ConflictEurope
The revolutions of 1848
Revolt in fifty countries within months — and nearly all of them fail
See it on the timeline →In depth
1848 is the closest Europe has come to a simultaneous revolution, and it spread by telegraph and railway — among the first times the speed of information became a political factor. The Communist Manifesto was published the same year, with little influence at the time. Defeat sent a generation of radicals into exile, many to the United States.
For children
Within months, revolts broke out across Europe demanding constitutions, the vote and national independence. Nearly all were crushed. But the demands did not go away, and most were met over the following seventy years.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org