Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt
The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe. There was an enormous increase in population, so there were more job-seekers than employment. People migrated from rural areas to overcrowded city slums. Small producers in towns faced stiff competition from cheap machine-made goods from England, and peasants struggled under feudal dues. A bad harvest or rising food prices brought widespread pauperism.
The year 1848 was one such year. Food shortages and unemployment brought the people of Paris onto the roads; barricades were erected and Louis Philippe was forced to flee. A National Assembly proclaimed a Republic, granted suffrage to all adult males above 21, and guaranteed the right to work, setting up national workshops. Earlier, in 1845, the weavers of Silesia had led a revolt against contractors who cut their payments.
1848: The Revolution of the Liberals
Parallel to the revolts of the poor, a revolution led by the educated middle classes was under way in 1848. In France, February 1848 brought the abdication of the monarch and a republic based on universal male suffrage. In Germany, Italy, Poland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where nation-states did not yet exist, the liberal middle classes combined demands for constitutionalism with national unification.
In the German regions, political associations met at Frankfurt and decided to vote for an all-German National Assembly. On 18 May 1848, 831 elected representatives marched to the Frankfurt Parliament in the Church of St Paul. They drafted a constitution for a German nation headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament. But when the crown was offered to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, he rejected it and joined other monarchs to oppose the assembly. As the aristocracy and military resisted, the parliament — dominated by the middle classes — lost popular support and was eventually forced to disband by troops.
Women and the Aftermath of 1848
The issue of political rights for women was controversial within the liberal movement, even though many women had participated actively — forming political associations, founding newspapers and joining demonstrations. Despite this, women were denied suffrage during the election of the Assembly; when the Frankfurt Parliament met, women were admitted only as observers in the visitors' gallery. (The activist Louise Otto-Peters founded a women's journal, arguing that 'Liberty is indivisible!')
Though conservative forces suppressed the liberal movements of 1848, they could not restore the old order. Monarchs began to realise that the cycles of revolution could only be ended by granting concessions. In the years after 1848, serfdom and bonded labour were abolished in the Habsburg dominions and in Russia, and the Habsburg rulers granted the Hungarians more autonomy in 1867.
Questions and Answers
Q1. Why were the 1830s and 1848 years of hardship in Europe? Ans. There was a huge rise in population with more job-seekers than jobs, migration to overcrowded slums, competition from cheap English machine-made goods, and the burden of feudal dues. A bad harvest and rising food prices in years like 1848 brought food shortages, unemployment and widespread pauperism.
Q2. What happened in Paris in 1848? Ans. Food shortages and unemployment brought people onto the streets; barricades were erected and Louis Philippe fled. A National Assembly proclaimed a Republic, granted suffrage to all adult males above 21, and guaranteed the right to work.
Questions and Answers (continued)
Q3. Describe the Frankfurt Parliament of 1848. Ans. On 18 May 1848, 831 elected representatives met in the Church of St Paul at Frankfurt as an all-German National Assembly. They drafted a constitution for a German nation headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament, but the crown offered to Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia was rejected, and the assembly was eventually disbanded.
Q4. What was the position of women in the 1848 liberal movement? Ans. Many women participated actively — forming associations, founding newspapers and joining demonstrations — but they were denied suffrage and admitted to the Frankfurt Parliament only as observers in the gallery.
Questions and Answers (continued)
Q5. What concessions did monarchs grant after 1848? Ans. Realising that repression alone could not end the cycles of revolution, monarchs granted concessions: serfdom and bonded labour were abolished in the Habsburg dominions and in Russia, and the Habsburg rulers granted the Hungarians more autonomy in 1867.