The year 1848 was heralded by the renowned words: “A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre.” Published in February 1848—in London but in the German language—the Manifesto of the Communist Party of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had little immediate influence on the revolutions that were to alter the face of Europe that year. Only in Germany, where from June 1 Marx was founder and editor of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, did the ideas of the Manifesto have a certain impact. But its central theme—the overthrow by discontented liberals (not necessarily communist) of the reactionary regimes that dominated most of the continent—was reflected in the reality of the revolutions of 1848, which began at Europe's southern extreme with the January insurrections in Sicilian Palermo and in the course of the year moved northward. In Italy the Risorgimento provoked further revolts against the Hapsburg regime. In France Louis Philippe was deposed and replaced by a republic that became the Second Empire with Louis Napoleon Bonaparte as its first president. Revolutions in Austria and Hungary forced Metternich to resign and replaced his repressive government with constitutions. In Germany reforms were achieved in various individual states, but the Frankfurt Assembly of 1848 failed to agree on a constitution for a united Germany—a goal that was only achieved two decades later, when Bismarck managed to create a German Empire.

At the same time, the developments of the Industrial Revolution— including railway traffic—began to impose themselves increasingly upon a sometimes reluctant society. While these political and technological developments had little direct impact on the literary, musical, and artistic scene, the conflict that they exposed between reaction and progress, between dream and reality, was reflected in cultural developments as Romanticism gave way to Realism. This transition was not sudden and abrupt. It took place gradually as one-time Romantics adapted their works to the new tendencies, or as younger writers attuned to the new era still felt the influence of Romantic ideas and styles.