While much of the impetus came from the middle classes, the physical backbone of the movement came from the lower classes. Their participation in the revolutions, however, differed. The middle and working classes thus shared a desire for reform, and agreed on many of the specific aims. Additionally, an uprising by democratic forces against Prussia, planned but not actually carried out, occurred in Greater Poland. In 1846, there had been an uprising of Polish nobility in Austrian Galicia, which was only countered when peasants, in turn, rose up against the nobles. Large swaths of the nobility were discontented with royal absolutism or near-absolutism. Some historians emphasize the serious crop failures, particularly those of 1846, that produced hardship among peasants and the working urban poor. A popular press extended political awareness, and new values and ideas such as popular liberalism, nationalism and socialism began to emerge. Technological change was revolutionizing the life of the working classes. Both liberal reformers and radical politicians were reshaping national governments. Numerous changes had been taking place in European society throughout the first half of the 19th century. The revolutions arose from such a wide variety of causes that it is difficult to view them as resulting from a coherent movement or set of social phenomena. Origins Map of Europe in 1848–1849 depicting the main revolutionary centers, important counter-revolutionary troop movements and states with abdications The wave of uprisings ended in October 1849. The revolutions were most important in France, the Netherlands, Italy, the Austrian Empire, and the states of the German Confederation that would make up the German Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Significant lasting reforms included the abolition of serfdom in Austria and Hungary, the end of absolute monarchy in Denmark, and the introduction of representative democracy in the Netherlands. Many of the revolutions were quickly suppressed, as tens of thousands of people were killed, and even more were forced into exile. The uprisings were led by temporary coalitions of reformers, the middle classes, the upper classes (the bourgeoisie) and workers however, the coalitions did not hold together for long. Some of the major contributing factors were widespread dissatisfaction with political leadership, demands for more participation in government and democracy, demands for freedom of the press, other demands made by the working class for economic rights, the upsurge of nationalism, the regrouping of established government forces, and the European Potato Failure, which triggered mass starvation, migration, and civil unrest. Over 50 countries were affected, but with no significant coordination or cooperation among their respective revolutionaries. The revolutions spread across Europe after an initial revolution began in France in February. ![]() The revolutions were essentially democratic and liberal in nature, with the aim of removing the old monarchical structures and creating independent nation-states, as envisioned by romantic nationalism. ![]() ![]() It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history to date. The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849.
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