-
End of Famine
The end of a two year famine, which spurred the beginning of the Revolutions of 1848. This famine ranged from the Germanic States to Northern Italy. -
Period: to
Revolution of 1848 Timeline
-
The abolition of Peaseant Obligations (March)
To quell peaseant discontent and appease liberal reformers, it abolished al remaining peasant obligations to the nobility in March 1848. -
Period: to
German states Elect Delegaties
The goal of German unification soon took precedence over social reform or constitutional changes within seperate states. In March and April, most of the German states agreed to elect delegates to a federal parliament at Frankfurt that would atttempt to unite Germany. -
Lajos Kossuth sends demands to Austria
Upon hearing the news of the revolution in Paris, Lajos Kossuth gave a speech demanding that Hungary be given a parliamentary government, while a constitutional government was given to the rest of Austria. -
Students of Vienna Demonstrate
Crowds composed largely of students and artisans demanded reform. Troops opened fire, killing several demonstrators. Though casualties were suffered, the riots took affect. Metternich would end up resigning, and escaping to England in disguise. Emperor Ferdinand promised a constitution, an elected parliament, and the end of censorship. -
Berlin Palace Demonstrations
News of the Revolution in Paris provoked popular demonstrations in Central and Eastern Europe. When the Prussian army tried to push back a crowd gathered in front of Berlin's royal palace, their actions provoked panic and street fighting. The next day the crowd paraded wagons loaded with dead bodies under King Fredrick William IV's window, forcing him to salute the victims killed by his own army. -
The First Blow
Military force finally broke up the revolutionary movements; the first blow fell in Prague in June 1848. General Prince Alfred von Windischgratz, the military governor, bombarded the city into submission when a demonstration led to violence. -
Austrian Power Reinstituted
In December, the Austrian monarchy came back to life when the eighteen-year-old Francis Joseph (r.1848-1916) unencumbered by promises extracted by the revolutionaries from his now feeble uncle Ferdinand, assumed the imperial crown after intervention by leading court officials. -
Fredrick Wiliam IX decrees a constitution for Prussia
After demonstratins, Frederick William IX finally gave in, agreeing to construct a constitution for Prussia; but Frederick imposed a monarchial constitution to undercut the democratic forces. On the same day, the Berlin assembley was dissolved. -
Rome declared a republic
One of the major innovations the Republic hoped to achieve was enshrined in its constitution: all religions could be practiced freely and the pope was guaranteed the right to govern the Catholic Church. These religious freedoms were quite different from the situation under the preceding government, which allowed only Catholicism and Judaism to be practiced by citizens. The Constitution of the Roman Republic was the first in the world to abolish capital punishment in its constitutional law. -
Italy Revolution Ends
The Italian revolution ends in Italy as French troops restore papal authority to Pope Pius IX in Rome. -
Fredrick William of Prussia rejects crown of united Germany
When the Frankfurt Parliament, in an attempt to unify German-speakers into a single political entity, offered the crown of a unified Germany to the King of Prussia William Frederick William IV, he refused, declaring he would not accept a crown "from the gutter." -
Roman Republic overthrown by French Intervention
The French forces were subsequently directly responsible for the militarily contested overthrow of the Roman Republic in early July 1849 despite a stout resistance, over several weeks, led by several patriotric Italians including Mazzini and Garibaldi. This French intervention, was styled for French domestic consumption as being a necessary to overthrow unpopular "foreigners who had come from all parts of Italy." -
Russian and Austrain Armies combine to defeat Hungarian forces
The Austrain army teamed up with Tsar Nicolas I, who marched into Hungary with more than 300,000 Russian troops. Hungary was put under brutal marital law. Social conflicts and ethnic divisons weakened the revolutionary movements from the inside and gave the Austrain government the opening it needed to resotre its position. -
Revival of the Old German Confederation
Austria unilaterally proclaimed the revival of the old German Confederation, pressuring member states to withdraw all the concessions to constitutionalism and liberalism they had made in 1848. -
The Prince of Hesse asks for Assistance
The Prince of Hesse asked for assistance from the reconstituted German Confederation when his own people rebelled against the withdrawl of a liberal constitution he had earlier granted.
