Luke Rodia
HIS 1012
Assignment 2:
How far were the 1848 revolutions stimulated by socio-economic rather than political factors?
The revolutions of 1848 were a series of simultaneous revolutions across a number of countries, mainly in Europe. A number of different reasons brought about these revolutions but each individual country had different reasons to why they had a revolution. As a result of this we cannot fully determine whether the 1848 revolutions were driven by socioeconomic or political reasons until we have looked at each major case individually, as this will allow us to make an accurate judgement on why the revolution occurred. To look at each country and their revolutionary events will allow us to see whether the 1848 revolutions were linked in any way, either politically or socioeconomically or if they were individual events which happened at the same time. On top of this we need to address the fact that not all European countries had revolutions, and some countries did begin to have revolutionary movements but they failed to take off as full revolutions. Once these points have been addressed then we can understand what stimulated the 1848 revolutions.
The years leading up to the 1848 revolutions had set the tone for revolution. Across Europe there was wide spread hunger due to a failure in crops. Jones writes in his book “But events elsewhere had already taken on dangerous proportions. The potato crop in 1846 and 1847 had been destroyed by disease, causing food riots among the poorer classes in much of central Europe” This shows that there was growing discontent from the lower classes in Europe at this time. This is then followed with more widespread riots in Europe and more discontent. Surprisingly more and more educated people mainly students at the time started to push the ideas of revolution in countries such as France, Germany and Italy. Collins writes in her article “The students everywhere were noted for their love of fancy uniforms and their fondness of carrying weapons.” and she goes on to say “But what were they after, all of these starving intellectuals? Students everywhere were discontented with their courses and examinations” This shows that tensions in Europe were rising creating the perfect atmosphere for revolution.
The first country which experienced a revolution was France. France had been one of the main powers and influences in Europe at this time which makes France’s 1848 revolution very important. The French 1848 Revolution had been largely stimulated by political factors rather that socioeconomic factors. This was because the aim of the French revolution was to overthrow the ministry leader Francois Guizot and King Louis Philippe. At first the group La Reforme had planned a banquet on the 22nd February, but they did not see this as a first step to a revolution but rather a means to gain a lever for political reform. As a result the government in France refused to authorize the banquet leading to more political discontent. The Banquet had gained support and on the day many people turned up in bad conditions to attend the banquet, but police stopped an additional group of students which led to the crowd becoming destructive. This resulted in even greater support on the following day when they marched upon Paris. Sterns writes in his book “killing or wounding forty to fifty people. The crowd was enraged at this ‘massacre’. Rumours spread that the government wanted to slaughter the working class, and as in other great revolutions rumour here both expressed and strengthened class resentments.” This class resentment in addition to the political unrest already current during this period were the key reasons why the French people caused a revolution in 1848.
The German revolution in 1848 happened very soon after the French, two days to be exacted, as the German revolution happened on the 25th to the 27th of February. The German revolution is not as straight forward as the French revolution, this is because the German revolution had a number of political and socioeconomic factors all working together to create an atmosphere for revolution. The first socioeconomic factor which stimulated the revolution was that the middle class felt that the king did not understand new trade and that his feudalistic rule was limiting their ability to make money in the newly created capitalist society. This is shown clearly when Robertson writes in her book “The treasury’s handsome surplus, left by Frederick William III, was spent within two years on court festivals and grants to the nobility, while the unhappy middle class soon saw that modern trade had neither the understanding nor the sympathy of their medieval monarch” . As a result of this the German middle class felt like something needed to be changed in order for them to start to reach their full potential in the new capitalist market and to fully take advantage of the huge steps made in industrial practices.
On the other hand, the German Revolution did have some political stimulants. The growth of liberal and democratic leadership had led to political demands for more civil rights and a constitutional monarchy being created. These liberal political demands are represented in the outcome of the German revolution in Roger Price’s book where he says “It was announced that the King had agreed to the establishment of a constitutional Monarchy. Rulers turned to liberal politicians in the hope that they could contain the revolutionary menace and avoid something worse.” Consequently the German revolution did have some very important political stimulants as the people wanted to change the absolute monarchy which existed at this time in Germany.
The Italian revolution was different from the French and German revolutions. This was because the Italian revolution was based on unifying all of the Italian states, like Germany, but unifying it from under Austrian rule in the north of Italy in Lombardy. The causes for the Italians to seek this unification were similar to that of other revolutions. They wanted to make reforms to enable the country to become more democratic and run more efficiently. Pope Pius IX was the first Italian ruler who started the reforms in Italy, Gildea explains “The last Italian ruler who might be expected to take a reforming initiative in fact acted first. Pius IX decided to end the medievalism of the Papal States that threatened to provoke an uprising in Romagna at any moment. Between July 1846 and July 1847 he released 2000 political prisoners, relaxed press censorship and removed it from the exclusive preserve of the Church”. This shows that the Italians wanted more political freedoms and a more liberal and democratic country. This movement was then subjected to Metternich’s discontent, as leader of Austria this meant he controlled Lombardy. Robertson describes the Italian problem when she writes “Reform depended largely on the question of getting Austria out. So long as Austria was in Lombardy, Metternich would feel free to put out fires in his neighbour’s houses before his own should catch”. This perfectly sums up what Metternich did in reaction to Pope Pius’ reforms as he sent troops to reinforce the troops already at Ferrara in Romagna. This resulted in more Italian discontent towards Austrian control of parts of Italy, this also stood in the way of Italian unification which was one of the main reasons why there was an Italian revolution in 1848.
On the other hand there is one more aspect of the 1848 revolutions in which we need to consider. This is the fact that not all countries in Europe experienced revolution during this year. Some countries outside of Europe had revolutionary movement s such as Brazil, and there were many countries inside Europe which had revolutions such as Austria, France, Germany and Italy. But some countries in Europe did not have a revolution in a time when revolutions were happening everywhere. The main example of a major country not having a revolution is England. Some radicals were gaining support in England during the early 1840’s and did have the potential power to cause a revolution. Gildea writes “In Great Britain the wind was knocked out of the sails of popular radicalism in 1842. Radical leaders joined the Whigs in a campaign to repeal the Corn Laws, which were seen as a bastion of aristocratic privilege.” This repeal was used in the short term to relive famine in Ireland but it ended up splitting the Tory party allowing the creation of the anti-Corn Law league. The founder of this league Richard Cobden went to Europe. Gildea describes Europe’s reaction to Cobden when he writes “He was greeted by enlightened circle as a magnificent example of what could be achieved, without violence, by organized liberalism.” This demonstrates the fact that not all countries in Europe were subjected to revolution as England had faced many of the same problems which other countries had, in the shape of economic distress, bad harvests and new political ideologies such as liberalism fighting against traditional politics and monarchy.
Furthermore Berger and Sporer claim that these revolutions were not solely driven by political or social means but mainly they are based on the economic problems at the time, they try to prove this by geographical practices to compare each individual state and to draw a connection between there economic situation and whether or not they had a revolution. They write in their article “the consequences of short term economic causes, specifically the shortfall in food supply that had shaken a large part of the continent in 1845-47, and the subsequent industrial slump triggered the European revolutions in 1848” This is a different view to the 1848 revolutions as this thesis believes that only the countries which saw a significant drop in food supplies lead to revolutions and other political and socioeconomics do not play as big as a role.
There are a number of reasons to why the 1848 revolutions happened, but each of these reasons are associated with each individual revolution. The problem of political unrest through the emergence of liberalism and more democratic constitutions were mainly associated with the French Revolution. The Italian revolution is profoundly based upon Austrian control of Lombardy and their influence over the rest of the country as it was preventing the country from progressing and unifying. Whereas the German revolution was a combination of political and socioeconomic problems. As they wanted to unify Germany like Italy had done and then they wanted to reform the monarchy into a constitutional monarchy instead of an absolutist regime. This was all on top of the fact that the German people were being hit by the economic conditions and were struggling to adapt to the new methods of industry under the current regime. On the whole, the political stimulants such as the emergence of new liberal attitudes was one of the main reasons why revolutions struck Europe in 1848, this is because liberal and democratic political aims wanted to change everything from the Monarchy to how the economy would work. But that is not to say that socioeconomic stimulants did not provide any means for revolution, as said previously each country’s revolution differs greatly but one recurring dominant theme is the result of political stimulants.
Bibliography
Berger, Helge and Mark Spoerer,’ Economic Crises and the European Revolutions of 1848’, The Journal of Economic History 61 (2001), 293-326
Collins, Irene, Revolutionaries In Europe: 1815-1848 (London: The historical association, 1974)
Gildea, Robert, Barricades and Borders: Europe 1800-1914 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987)
Jones, Peter, The 1848 Revolutions (Essex: Longman Group Limited, 1981)
Price, Roger, The Revolutions of 1848 (Hampshire: Macmillan education, 1988)
Robertson, Priscilla, Revolutions of 1848: A Social History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967) Stearns, Peter N., The Revolutions of 1848 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974)

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[ 1 ]. Peter Jones, The 1848 Revolutions (Essex: Longman Group Limited, 1981), p.3.
[ 2 ]. Irene Collins, Revolutionaries In Europe: 1815-1848 (London: The historical association, 1974), p.24.
[ 3 ]. Ibid
[ 4 ]. Peter Stearns, The Revolutions of 1848 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974), p.73.
[ 5 ]. Priscilla Robertson, Revolutions of 1848: A Social History (New Jersey: Princeton university press, 1967), p.108.
[ 6 ]. Roger Price, The Revolutions of 1848 (Hampshire: Macmillan education, 1988), p.40.
[ 7 ]. Robert Gildea, Barricades and Borders: 1800-1914 (Oxford: Oxford university press, 1887), p.84.
[ 8 ]. Priscilla Robertson, Revolutions of 1848, p.322.
[ 9 ]. Robert Gildea, Barricades and Borders, p.83.
[ 10 ]. Ibid
[ 11 ]. Helge Berger and Mark Spoerer,’ Economic Crises and the European Revolutions of 1848’, The Journal of Economic History 61 (2001), 293-326 (p.293).