Why Did Revolutions Break Out in Germany and Italy in 1848?
Why did Revolutions break out in Germany and Italy in 1848?
The "Spring of Nations", which consisted in the popular uprisings and revolutions that occurred in 1848, was caused by a series of factors which included social, economical and government crisis. Although these problems were serious and well eradicated, the major factor that caused these revolts was the rise of nationalist and liberalist ideas.
When in 1845 a combination of massive crop failure in a mainly agricultural subsistence economy and a overproduction followed by an underconsumption of goods typical of the early industrialization led to a destructive economic crisis and recession. That year the "potato blight", which was a vegetal desire that affected tubers such as potatoes, struck Europe making entire countries which their whole agriculture, since the Spanish brought the potatoes in Europe in the late 1400s, was based on the growth of this crop. Because of this disease, countries such as Ireland and Germany faced a great lack of food. The following year also a grain failure made the situation, if possible, even worse. This lack of food caused the prices of aliments to rise incredibly to the point where the daily pay of a factory worker wasn't enough to buy food to feed his family, of corse supposing that the factory worker didn't get fired because of the fall in demand of industrial products. With such an economical situation riots and acts of violence soon broke out. In 1846 the peasants in the Austrian provence of Galicia revolted against their landlords burning the documents regarding their feudal dues and attacking wealthy people. Similar hunger-driven acts of violence occurred in all of Europe. Soon the Austrian army put down the revolt but no actions were taken by the government to solve the problems that made it happen. The combined
The "Spring of Nations", which consisted in the popular uprisings and revolutions that occurred in 1848, was caused by a series of factors which included social, economical and government crisis. Although these problems were serious and well eradicated, the major factor that caused these revolts was the rise of nationalist and liberalist ideas.
When in 1845 a combination of massive crop failure in a mainly agricultural subsistence economy and a overproduction followed by an underconsumption of goods typical of the early industrialization led to a destructive economic crisis and recession. That year the "potato blight", which was a vegetal desire that affected tubers such as potatoes, struck Europe making entire countries which their whole agriculture, since the Spanish brought the potatoes in Europe in the late 1400s, was based on the growth of this crop. Because of this disease, countries such as Ireland and Germany faced a great lack of food. The following year also a grain failure made the situation, if possible, even worse. This lack of food caused the prices of aliments to rise incredibly to the point where the daily pay of a factory worker wasn't enough to buy food to feed his family, of corse supposing that the factory worker didn't get fired because of the fall in demand of industrial products. With such an economical situation riots and acts of violence soon broke out. In 1846 the peasants in the Austrian provence of Galicia revolted against their landlords burning the documents regarding their feudal dues and attacking wealthy people. Similar hunger-driven acts of violence occurred in all of Europe. Soon the Austrian army put down the revolt but no actions were taken by the government to solve the problems that made it happen. The combined