The Revolutions of 1848 Essay -- World History Revolution Essays

The Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848 have been described as the greatest revolution of the century1. From its pocket-size beginnings in Palermo, Sicily in January 1848, it did not take long to spread across the rest of Europe (Britain and Russia were the only countries not to experience such revolutions). In 1848 to a greater extent states on the European continent were overcome by revolution than ever before and ever since2. The Revolutions became more radical but after June 1848 these revolutionary events began to convergency with those of counterrevolutionary actions, thus enabling the old regimes to return to power. 1848 was described as a sunny spring of the peoples abruptly interrupted by the winter of the princes3.It has oft been saidthat in 1848European history reached its turning point and failed to turn4. There are a variety of reasons that can be given for the ill luck of the Revolutions, these include the divisions amongst revolutionaries, the continuing s ocial and economic problems of the countries involved, the difficulty in replacing the old regimes and the problem of the forward-looking inexperienced electorates. There does not appear to be one clear, defining reason which led to the old regimes regaining power after the 1848 Revolutions. All the factors seem to be equ every(prenominal)y important and to some extent, connected.crosswise Europe, the revolutionaries of 1848 came from a variety of different social backgrounds and they either held different political beliefs. They could be liberals, republicans, nationalists or socialists and therefore they all wanted different things out of the Revolutions. individually group was also internally divided, with a radical faction and a more moderate one. Initially they all joined forces to overthrow the existing regimes with which they were discontent. further once power was in their hands, they found that Revolutionary Consensus was virtually impossible. Their initial victory was followed by ensuing struggle to implement change5. The people had interpreted to the streets not knowing what they would do if they did manage to take power. Now that they had, because of their different individual aims, they found it hard to compromise. This eventually led to a growing reveal between moderates and radicals, as well as between social classes, particularly in France. The moderates did not want a government based on oecumenic male... ... voted into the new republic. France was a republic, but one now in the hands of an assembly dominated by conservatives, many of whom were monarchists7.As you can see all these factors enabled the reactionary regimes to return to power after the 1848 Revolutions. I do not think that one was more influential than another but that they are all connected. Perhaps without one, another may not have had such an effect. For example, the existence of social and economic difficulties increased the divisions between the revolutionaries. They found it increasingly difficult to acquiesce with one another on how to combat them, let alone be able to compromise on a new form of government. Also if the new widened franchise had not been so inexperienced the revolutionaries would have had an easier time replacing the old regimes, which had in fact not been that strong to start with. The reactionary regimes regained power so quickly because of all of these reasons and although the 1848 Revolutions had emphasised the ineptitude and impotence8 of the old sovereigns and governments, they brought with them too many resentments, grudges and radical changes, for which Europe was not yet ready.