ABSTRACT
In January 1847 the Prussian Count Galen wrote: ‘The old year ended in scarcity, the new one opens with starvation. Misery, spiritual and physical, traverses Europe in ghastly shapes – the one without God, the other without bread. Woe if they join
hands!’ (M. Traugott, ‘The mid-nineteenth century crisis in England and France’, Theory and Society, 12, 1983, cited in A. Price, The Revolutions of 1848, London, Macmillan, 1988, p. 20). These prophetic words touch several of the important features of the revolutions of 1848. Poor harvests, high food prices, terrible urban conditions affecting the poor, combined with the frustration felt by the middle classes at the lack of reform and careers, required only a spark or an example to catch fire. The sense of foreboding in Galen’s words helps explain why the governments, when faced with disorder, believed they faced a massive conspiracy. They gave way, and only later regained their nerve and used their armies to restore control. But Metternich, the Habsburg Chancellor, and Louis Philippe, the last king to reign in France, were swept away by the tide of 1848. There was now a new point of reference for the future; governments would try to avoid a repetition, and those who wanted change would try to improve on the method and results.
