The crisis resulted in a significant shift among German liberals. Before 1840, Germany liberals were fairly Francophilic and willing to put political freedom above national unity -- many had spent time in exile in France, the French Revolution and July Revolution were often viewed as models to be followed, and French writers and theorists were heavily influential. The Rhine crisis changed the view of France from a continental bastion of liberal parliamentariansm to focus on the militaristic and chauvinistic elements of the revolutionary spirit, turning many German liberals away from France and toward a more nationalist-liberal view, which was highly influential in the German revolutions of 1848–1849.