The European Revolutions, 1848–1851

Cambridge University Press
0521839076 - The European Revolutions, 1848–1851 - by Jonathan Sperber
Frontmatter/Prelims

The European Revolutions, 1848–1851

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. Nationalist aspirations, social issues, and feminist demands coming to the fore in the mid-century revolutions would reverberate in continental Europe until 1914 and beyond. Yet the new regimes established then proved ephemeral, succumbing to counter-revolution.

In this second edition, Jonathan Sperber has updated and expanded his study of the European Revolutions between 1848 and 1851. Emphasizing the socioeconomic background to the revolutions, and the diversity of political opinions and experiences of participants, the book offers an inclusive narrative of the revolutionary events and a structural analysis of the reasons for the revolutions’ ultimate failure. A wide-reaching conclusion and a detailed bibliography make the book ideal both for classroom use and for a general reader wishing to acquire a better knowledge of this major historical event.

JONATHAN SPERBER is Professor of History at the University of Missouri-Columbia. His previous publications include award-winning books such as Rhineland Radicals: The Democratic Movement and the Revolutions of 1848–1849 (1991) and The Kaiser’s Voters: Electors and Elections in Imperial Germany (1997).

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NEW APPROACHES TO EUROPEAN HISTORY

Series editors

WILLIAM BEIK, Emory University

T. C. W. BLANNING, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge

New Approaches to European History is an important textbook series, which provides concise but authoritative surveys of major themes and problems in European history since the Renaissance. Written at a level and length accessible to advanced school students and undergraduates, each book in the series addresses topics or themes that students of European history encounter daily: the series embraces both some of the more traditional subjects of study, and those cultural and social issues to which increasing numbers of school and college courses are devoted. A particular effort is made to consider the wider international implications of the subject under scrutiny.

To aid the student reader, scholarly apparatus and annotation is light, but each work has full supplementary bibliographies and notes for further reading: where appropriate, chronologies, maps, diagrams, and other illustrative material are also provided.

For a list of titles published in the series, please see end of book.

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The European Revolutions

1848–1851

Second Edition

JONATHAN SPERBER

University of Missouri-Columbia

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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

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Cambridge University Press
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Published in the United States of America by
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521547796

© Cambridge University Press 1994, 2005

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 1994

Reprinted seven times

Second edition 2005

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

Typeset in Plantin 10/12 pt.    System Advent 3B2 8.07f

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Sperber, Jonathan, 1952–
    The European revolutions, 1848–1851 / Jonathan Sperber. – 2nd ed.
        p.   cm. – (New Approaches to European History ; 29)
    Includes bibliographical references and index.
    ISBN 0 521 83907 6 (cloth) – ISBN 0 521 54779 2 (pbk.)
1. Europe – History – 1848–1849.     2. Revolutions – Europe – History – 19th
century.    I. Title.    II. Series.
D387.S64 2005    940.2′84 – dc22 2004057071

ISBN-13 978-0-521-83907-5 hardback

ISBN-10 0-521-83907-6 hardback

ISBN-13 978-0-521-54779-6 paperback

ISBN-10 0-521-54779-2 paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence of
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to
in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

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Contents

	List of illustrations Preface to the second edition Chronology of events								page vi vii viii
	Introduction								1
1	Society and social conflict in Europe during the 1840s								5
2	The pre-revolutionary political universe								56
3	The outbreak of revolution								109
4	Varieties of revolutionary experience								157
5	Polarization and confrontation								208
6	The mid-century revolutions in European history								258
	Bibliography Short biographies Index								284 299 305

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Illustrations

MAPS

1.1	Europe in 1848	page 6–7
1.2	Dominant agricultural property and production regimes in Europe during the 1840s	14–15
1.3	Predominant religious confessions in Europe during the 1840s	36–37
3.1	Scenes of barricade fighting in January to March 1848	118–119
5.1	Revolutionary regimes in the spring of 1849	248–249

FIGURE

1.1

Real wages in France and Germany, 1820–47

24

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Preface to the second edition

The one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the revolution of 1848, that produced a small flood of exhibitions, conferences, lecture series, commemorations, and scholarly publications in the years around 1998, also provided the impetus for a second edition of this work. As part of the relevant revisions, the bibliography has been completely rewritten and brought up to date with the latest literature, much of it appearing in conjunction with the revolutionary sesquicentennial. The account of the 1848 revolutions has been modified as well, to take into consideration the latest scholarly findings. As a result of them, the discussion of the 1848 revolution has been expanded, both topically and geographically, including new material on events in the Low Countries, Scandinavia, and the very interesting developments in the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. I have added new examples for some of the assertions in the book, introduced new themes, particularly a section on the memory and commemoration of the 1848 revolutions. A number of smaller mistakes present in the first edition have been corrected.

More generally, though, most of these newer scholarly investigations have offered further evidence to support the general approach to and interpretation of the mid-nineteenth-century revolutions put forth in this book. Indeed, the first edition of The European Revolutions, 1848–1851 found frequent and favorable mention in bibliographies and commemorative essays, to say nothing of Internet web sites, appearing in conjunction with the revolutionary anniversary. It is to be hoped that a revised and updated second edition will continue to improve upon this favorable track record.

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Chronology of events

1845

Failure of the potato crop produces famine or near-famine conditions in much of Europe.

1846

The potato harvest improved over the previous year, but the wretched grain harvest worsens the food supply situation.

The Bishop of Imola elected Pope Pius IX; widespread expectations that he will introduce liberal reforms in the church and the Papal States and take the lead towards Italian national unity.

Defeat of the opposition in the elections to the legislature in France.

Polish uprising in the Austrian province of Galicia defeated when serfs turn on the noble insurgents and massacre them.

1847

A good harvest ends the danger of famine (except in Ireland) but business conditions worsen and the industrial and commercial economy in Europe enters into recession.

Civil war in Switzerland; the predominantly Protestant and left-wing cantons defeat the predominantly Catholic and right-wing ones.

Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia calls a United Diet to approve new loans. A majority of deputies demand a constitution and liberal reforms, which the king refuses to grant.

Constitutional-monarchist and radical parliamentary deputies from the smaller states of central and southwestern Germany hold separate meetings to discuss plans for national unification, and social and political reform.

The French opposition mounts a banquet campaign to demand a more democratic franchise.

Victory of the opposition in elections to the Hungarian Diet.

Pius IX calls a Consultative Assembly to discuss reforms in the Papal States; liberal deputies to it demand greater concessions than he is willing to make.

1848

January

Italy: Insurrection in Palermo, Sicily, spreads to the mainland and the King of the Two Sicilies is forced to grant a constitution.

France: Intensification of the banquet campaign in Paris.

February

Italy: King of Piedmont-Savoy and the Grand Duke of Tuscany grant constitutions.

France: Parisian banquets end in street demonstrations; crowds clash with soldiers and police; barricades are built. The army refuses to fight, the National Guard goes over to the insurgents, King Louis-Philippe flees and the republic is proclaimed. Provisional Government is an uneasy coalition of radicals, socialists, and moderate “pure republicans.”

March

The revolutionary events of this month lead to riots and demonstrations of the urban and rural lower classes throughout the continent, including strikes, land occupations, boycotts of feudal and seigneurial obligations, and assaults on employers, creditors, nobles, and government officials. These continue into the summer.

Italy: Risings in the Habsburg provinces of Lombardy and Venetia, particularly in their respective capitals, Venice and Milan; revolutionary provisional governments created. Austrian General Radetzky retreats with his defeated forces to the fortresses of the Quadrilateral. Carlo Alberto of Piedmont-Savoy declares war on Austria and sends his army to occupy Lombardy and Venetia. Pius IX grants a constitution for the Papal States.

France: Creation of Luxembourg Commission in Paris to investigate and reform conditions of the working class. National Workshops set up to offer jobs to the unemployed. Formation of numerous political clubs and workers’ trade associations in the capital.

Germany: Street fighting in Berlin. Insurgents are victorious: the army withdraws from the city; the king of Prussia promises a constitution, appoints liberal ministers, and announces his support for German national unification. Liberal government ministers appointed in most of the smaller German states, sometimes after menacing street demonstrations. German nationalist uprising in Schleswig-Holstein against Danish rule. “Pre-Parliament” meets in Frankfurt and issues call for elections to a German National Assembly.

Austrian Empire: Street fighting in Vienna; Metternich flees the country. A new government ministry is appointed, containing both conservatives and liberals. It names Colonel Jelačić Ban of Croatia and commander of the border troops. National mass meeting of Croatians in Zagreb. Demonstrations in Prague and formation of a National Committee. Riots in Cracow and formation of Polish National Committee. Mass demonstrations in Budapest; the Hungarian Diet moves there from Pressburg and names members of a Hungarian government ministry.

Low Countries: Mass meetings in the Netherlands, particularly in Amsterdam and The Hague; large street demonstrations in Amsterdam on 27 March. The king appoints a commission, chaired by liberal opposition leader Johan Thorbecke, to draft a new constitution. Formation of a “Belgian Legion” in Paris, primarily from unemployed Belgian workers there. Moving to the north of France, it sets up an armed camp and crosses the Belgian border on 25 and 29 March, hoping for promised support from Belgian radicals. These invasions are defeated by Belgian troops. Belgian government introduces a reform packet, including a considerable expansion of the franchise.

Scandinavia: Mass meetings and street demonstrations in Copenhagen lead King Friedrich VII to appoint liberal government ministers who announce elections for a constituent assembly, but also plans for the incorporation of the Duchy of Schleswig with the Danish kingdom, leading to war with the German states. Mass meetings in Stockholm; street demonstrations on 15 March are suppressed by the army, leaving thirty demonstrators dead.

April

England: Great Chartist reform demonstration in London overawed by the police.

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