Social Problems The New Revolutionary Regimes example essay topic

The Revolutions of 1848 have been described as the "greatest revolution of the century"1. From its mild 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 more states on the European continent were overcome by revolution than ever before and ever since"2. The Revolutions became more radical but after June 1848 these revolutionary events began to overlap 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 princes"3.

"It has often been said... that in 1848... European history reached its turning point and failed to turn"4. There are a variety of reasons that can be given for the failure of the Revolutions, these include the divisions amongst revolutionaries, the continuing social and economic problems of the countries involved, the difficulty in replacing the old regimes and the problem of the new 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 equally important and to some extent, connected.

Across Europe, the revolutionaries of 1848 came from a variety of different social backgrounds and they all held different political beliefs. They could be liberals, republicans, nationalists or socialists and therefore they all wanted different things out of the Revolutions. Each 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. However once power was in their hands, they found that 'Revolutionary Consensus' was virtually impossible.

Their initial victory was "followed by ensuing struggle to implement change"5. The people had taken 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 split between moderates and radicals, as well as between social classes, particularly in France. The moderates did not want a government based on universal male suffrage and the middle classes were determined to resist the demands of the lower classes. With such lack of co-operation these new regimes were unlikely to be successful or long lasting.

The situation was the same across central and west Europe. Revolutionaries found that the high hopes they had held in 1848 were pushed aside by the reality of different aims. As a result the counter-revolution continued to develop and gain the upper hand, particularly in the Habsburg monarchy, where rivalries within the monarchy itself and the confusion of competing national claims made counter-revolution easier, and in the Italian states where a lack of support had proved too powerful. This division amongst revolutionaries was further heightened by the continued existence of social and economic problems throughout Europe. It was these social problems which had helped bring about the 1848 Revolutions in the first place. In the 1840's there was increased food shortage and business failure along with high unemployment, which had increased the dissatisfaction with the existing conservative or moderate regimes.

Although this economic discontent had not been enough on its own to bring about the 1848 Revolutions, it definitely played a key part in their development and their collapse. These problems were still apparent in 1848 and consequently took some of the focus away from the revolutionaries' cause. Along with the growing strain on food supplies and the increase of unemployment, Europe was also suffering from cholera and the plague. The plague had spread across Europe, starting from China and reaching as far as America. The plague caused heavy death tolls. It struck particularly in the towns and cities, which were the very heart of the Revolutions.

The social dislocation it left behind had a drastic effect on the Revolution. The people who were alive were left with "physical exhaustion and a dispirited apathy that quenched the fans of revolt"6. In the face of such hardships people lost their enthusiasm to revolt and the revolutionaries lost support and consequently the old regimes used this to their advantage and regained power. On top of such social problems the new revolutionary regimes had to find a way to replace the old regimes. The original conservative administrations were well organised and established and therefore the revolutionaries had a hard time filling the void. The old regimes had been more or less united in their views and constitutional aims.

The new republics of 1848, although all wanted freedom, failed to agree on anything else (as I mentioned earlier) therefore making the old regimes seem more appealing. People had hoped that the new governments would find solutions for the social and economic problems that they were still facing, but the new regimes were just as unsuccessful and consequently people lost their faith in them. There were also those social groups and individuals that were against the 1848 Revolutions from the start. They generated resistance almost immediately because they felt that they had a lot to lose from the Revolutions success. These groups opposing the Revolutions happened to be highly influential members of society. For example, in France the opposition came from the upper classes, who held influence over the lower classes on their estates.

In the Habsburg Empire those opposing the Revolutions were the emperor and his army, who held the power to crush any rebellion and in Prussia the resistance came from the King and nobles. As a result of these factors the radical uprisings frequently found little support and this enabled the old regimes to return quickly to power. The fact that the existing regimes were able to come back to power can be linked to the emergence of a new and somewhat inexperienced electorate. In the wake of the 1848 Revolutions political interest became widespread amongst those who had never been involved in politics before.

1848 saw the politicization of the masses through the creation of political clubs and newspapers. In Paris alone 200 new political clubs began and a further 200 newspapers came into production. More and more people were becoming involved in politics and with the introduction of universal manhood suffrage more and more were able to have their say. Unfortunately this was counter-productive for the revolutionary regimes because the people who had received the right to vote were highly uneducated when it came to politics. It had been the aim of these new political clubs to educate the masses about politics, however, despite the vast number of members, that was not the case. The masses tended to vote back the old regimes.

They voted for the well-known figures who had dominated the old regimes. Often the peasants' votes were influenced by priests or landowners, who wanted to prevent the new regimes from consolidating power as they stood to lose out. In the April elections in France there was an overwhelming conservative majority 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 monarchists"7.

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 agree 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 impotence"8 of the old sovereigns and governments, they brought with them too many resentments, grudges and radical changes, for which Europe was not yet ready.