The Russian government revokes his permission to remain abroad, circulating the rumor that his is a revolutionary and a spy. The French government orders him to be expelled from the country. In 1848, has a falling out with Marx and Engles in Cologne over their denunciation of a friend of Bakunin's. Moves to Dresden in 1849, plays a principal role in the 3 May uprising with Richard Wagner. The rebellion is defeated by 9 May. Bakunin is later arrested and on 14 January 1850, sentenced to death.
Death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.
He spends some of this time chained hand and foot to a wall. After various extraditions, he ends up in Russia where he is condmened, without trial, to a dungeon for six years in the Peter and Paul Fortress. In 1854, he succumbs to scurvy, which causes his teeth to fall out. Eventually in 1857, Tsar Alexander orders Bakunin's release from prison. He is then permanently exiled to Siberia.