![]() There were several unorganized instances of peasants burning the mansions of local aristocrats and threatening them. Baden was the first state in Germany to have popular unrest, even though it was one of the most liberal states in Germany. The middle-class elements were committed to liberal principles, while the working class sought radical improvements to their working and living conditions (Hobsbawm, 1962) (1).Īfter the news of the revolutionary victories in February 1848 in Paris, uprisings occurred throughout the German states. This process began in the previous years. The revolutions demonstrated popular discontent with the traditional, largely autocratic political structure of the 39 independent states. Particularly, they were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions. However, they were mainly national revolutions, as they were expressing the idea of Pan-Germanism. Subsequently, the revolutions in the German states had all the common features of the other revolutions in Europe they were inspired by liberal principles and had democratic demands. Reference to the German territories of the Austrian Empire will be made in the following article, in which the revolutions of 1848 in the territories of the Habsburg monarchy will be analysed. It should be noted that this article will refer to the German-speaking regions of Prussia and the approximately 39 autonomous states that emerged from the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. The charm of the “Springtime of Nations” overcame the Germans, whose common demand was the unification of all the German states into a single German nation state. The flame of the revolutions of 1848 was impossible not to extend to the wider German area. ![]()
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