page_title: Revolutions of 1848
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Revolutions of 1848 / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Europe 1848-49. Historical map with main revolutionary centres, important reactionary troop movements, states with abdications and national conflicts. Please don't alter the map, when you think there something not written or depicted correctly. Leave a message at the talk page of the file. After a verificiation and a possible discussion, i will upload a new map version with all new changes. This prevents an unnecessary waste of disc space and ensures a good result, aesthetically and contentwise. - The author. Deutsch: Europa 1848/49. Historische Karte mit wichtigen revolutionären Orten, Hauptschlagrichtungen konterrevolutionärer Truppen, Staaten mit Abdankungen von Monarchen und Nationalitätenkonflikten. Bitte die Karte bei Änderungs- und Korrekturwünschen nicht selbst verändern, sondern eine Anmerkung im Diskussionsbereich der Bilddatei hinterlassen. Nach einer Prüfung und ggfs. Diskussion werden evtl. Änderungen von mir zusammengefasst eingearbeitet. Das vermeidet unnötige Speicherplatz-Verschwendung und gewährleistet ein ästhetisch ansprechendes und inhaltlich korrektes Ergebnis. - Der Urheber.
context_page_description: The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Spring of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history.
  The revolutions were essentially democratic and liberal in nature, with the aim of removing the old monarchical structures and creating independent nation-states. The revolutions spread across Europe after an initial revolution began in France in February. Over 50 countries were affected, but with no significant coordination or cooperation among their respective revolutionaries. Some of the major contributing factors were widespread dissatisfaction with political leadership, demands for more participation in government and democracy, demands for freedom of the press, other demands made by the working class, the upsurge of nationalism, and the regrouping of established government forces.
  The uprisings were led by temporary coalitions of reformers, the middle classes and workers. However the coalition did not hold together for long.
context_section_description: The revolutions arose from such a wide variety of causes that it is difficult to view them as resulting from a coherent movement or set of social phenomena. Numerous changes had been taking place in European society throughout the first half of the 19th century. Both liberal reformers and radical politicians were reshaping national governments.
  Technological change was revolutionizing the life of the working classes. A popular press extended political awareness, and new values and ideas such as popular liberalism, nationalism and socialism began to emerge. Some historians emphasize the serious crop failures, particularly those of 1846, that produced hardship among peasants and the working urban poor.
  Large swaths of the nobility were discontented with royal absolutism or near-absolutism. In 1846, there had been an uprising of Polish nobility in Austrian Galicia, which was only countered when peasants, in turn, rose up against the nobles. Additionally, an uprising by democratic forces against Prussia, planned but not actually carried out, occurred in Greater Poland.
  Next, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, working in Brussels, had written The Communist Manifesto (published in German in London on 21 February 1848) at the request of the Communist League (an organization consisting principally of German workers). Following the March insurrection in Berlin, they began agitating in Germany. They issued their "Demands of the Communist Party in Germany" from Paris in March; the pamphlet urged unification of Germany, universal suffrage, abolition of feudal duties, and similar middle-class goals.
  The middle and working classes thus shared a desire for reform, and agreed on many of the specific aims. Their participations in the revolutions, however, differed. While much of the impetus came from the middle classes, much of the cannon fodder came from the lower classes. The revolts first erupted in the cities.
caption: Map of Europe in 1848–1849 depicting the main revolutionary centres, important counter-revolutionary troop movements and states with abdications
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