Revolution of (1848)

Revolution of 1848, series of unsuccessful revolutionary uprisings in France, Italy, the Austrian Empire, and Germany in 1848. Each was relatively spontaneous and self-contained, but all had a number of common causes: the successful example of the French Revolution of 1789, economic unrest due to bad harvests and unemployment, and a growing frustration, fired by nationalist fervor, about the repressive policies of conservative politicians like Prince von Metternich and François Guizot. In 1848, a major uprising in Paris overthrew King Louis Philippe and Guizot, but it was suppressed and the Third Republic proclaimed. In Italy, during the Risorgimento, short-lived republics were proclaimed, and there was agitation to secure independence from Austria, which was itself shaken by revolutions in Vienna, Prague, and Hungary. The demand for a representative government led to an all-German Diet in Frankfurt that failed in its efforts to unite Germany. In England there was working-class agitation (Chartism), and other European countries were also affected.