Springtime of the Peoples

In 1848, a wave of revolutions swept across Europe. Fueled by economic crisis, poor harvests, and demands for constitutional government, uprisings erupted in France, the German states, the Austrian Empire, Italy, and Hungary. Revolutionaries sought to replace monarchical rule with liberal democracies and national self-determination. Most were suppressed by conservative forces within two years, but the upheavals accelerated the decline of feudal structures and shaped European nationalist movements for decades.