How Successful Was The Revolutions Of 1848

When determining how successful the revolutions of 1848 were, one must look at their immediate short term effects and the eventual long term consequences. The fact that different revolutions with different aims occurred in separate European countries must also be taken into account.

France, Italy, Germany and the Austrian Empire were the areas most affected by the revolutions, as in most cases “the structures of the old order were battered and severely damaged” . These revolutions were not purely social in which the lower class were revolting against the middle and upper. They “involved and mobilized all social classes” in rebellion against the monarchy or current governing system. Due to the fact that in most cases the revolutions managed to overthrow their ruling systems, it seems logical to argue that the revolutions were successful. This is certainly the case in the short term. Mike Rapport argues however that these governing systems, though temporarily reformed were “not entirely levelled” . This is because it took only a few years for the majority of governments to regain control. Only in France was the only rule completely trampled out, though to be replaced by an empire ruled by Napoleon.

The revolutions also had long term impacts from which some historians have drawn the

Hobsbawm disagrees with Rapport over the issue with slavery in Europe, stating that even though slavery was abolished in Austria “In 1848 there was still a very great deal of slavery, and consequently of (illegal) slave-trading left in the world” . He is trying to get across the point that this was not a radical idea and repercussions of it did not occur throughout Europe. Serfs still existed in Eastern Europe ultimately creating doubt as to how much of a success the abolition of slavery in Austria in relation to the rest of