The Revolution of 1848–49 in Germany, in the Austrian Empire, and in Hungary

Metternich had said that Austria was suffering from a mortal disease in October 1847. It was so, and the disease had been accelerated by his own policy. Not only in Austria but in Germany and in Europe as a whole, a policy of pure repression, anti-national and anti-liberal, ended, as it was bound to end, in inanition. The Germany and Austria of the Metternichian régime died in 1848. The reaction of 1849 could not return to the past: it could only improvise for the future.