Europe 1848

Synopsis

Revolutions swept much of Europe in 1848. The revolutions were a response to the dislocations of the Treaty of Vienna, the growth of centralized states with unchecked royal power, and the largely indirect effects of the Industrial Revolution. Although old quarrels played an important role in creating an unparalleled revolutionary situation on the European continent, the fall of established governments opened the way for new contenders on the political stage. In France particularly, artisans threatened by technology, hard pressed by competition from mechanized industry, and exploited by small masters entered the urban political arena. In 1848 in France, the labor movement asserted itself as an independent political entity on the European continent for the first time. European labor had previously been part of a broadly republican movement. The events of 1848 revealed previously concealed antagonisms between labor and the republican movement.

Timeline

• 1824: French engineer Sadi...