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3 - The outbreak of revolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Jonathan Sperber
Affiliation:
University of Missouri, Columbia
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Summary

Preceding the revolution: (1) the economic crisis

It was quite clear to contemporaries that the economic crisis of the years 1845–47 was the precursor to and precondition for the revolution of 1848. Historians have seconded this judgment, but can add to it three important points. What happened in 1845–47 was not an isolated event but part of a broader range of economic difficulties, occurring over a fifteen-year period, running from the early 1840s through the second half of the following decade. Within this broader period, 1845–47 were particularly difficult years, because they saw the interaction of three separate but interrelated crises: a run of very poor harvests; a trade cycle downturn, what would today be called a recession; and a financial and banking panic, reflecting the first two difficulties, but also showing the insufficiency of existing financial institutions. Finally, both the broader crisis and the greater problems of 1845–47 are best understood as a crisis of transition, as part of the movement towards expanded industrial production and a market-oriented agriculture, which would resolve the long-term economic difficulties of the first half of the nineteenth century. This last point is particularly well suited to historians' hindsight, but was no consolation to those who were starving, cold, unemployed, or heavily in debt at the time. Unaware of the prospect of future decades of economic expansion, they were ready to take violent and drastic action to improve their condition.

Problems of food shortages began with mediocre harvests in the early 1840s.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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  • The outbreak of revolution
  • Jonathan Sperber, University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Book: The European Revolutions, 1848–1851
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511817717.006
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  • The outbreak of revolution
  • Jonathan Sperber, University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Book: The European Revolutions, 1848–1851
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511817717.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The outbreak of revolution
  • Jonathan Sperber, University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Book: The European Revolutions, 1848–1851
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511817717.006
Available formats
×