News of the outbreak of revolution in Paris on 24 February 1848 and of the uprisings in Switzerland and Italy sparked a revolutionary movement throughout Central Europe. Revolutionary activity began in Baden on 27 February with a large public meeting in Mannheim; on the same day a second assembly took place in Munich, swiftly followed by similar gatherings in Stuttgart and Mainz. Appeals were made everywhere for fundamental changes to the existing political order, with similar demands being voiced not only in the various German states, but also in Austria and Bohemia. At meetings across Central Europe, people called for an end to Diets composed of the traditional Estates and for the institution of parliaments where representatives of the bourgeoisie and peasantry would sit and make decisions. Similarly, widespread demands were made for the creation of National Guards to protect the achievements of revolution against the armies of the anciens régimes. The revolutionaries stipulated the introduction of trial by jury to replace seigneurial courts controlled by feudal authorities, the abolition of censorship, as well as freedom of association, assembly and the press.

Representatives of the existing social and political power structures immediately perceived the seriousness of the threat to the old order. A mere four days after the Paris uprising, and a day after the Mannheim and Munich assemblies, the Prussian minister of the interior, von Bodelschwingh, instructed the civil authorities (Oberpræsidenten) to stand firm against the mass demonstrations. They were aiming, he said, ‘to force all manner of change, following the example set in Switzerland, Italy and France.’ It was the dissatisfied classes who agitated these changes: the bourgeoisie, the peasantry and the proletariat. By the early nineteenth century the bourgeoisie was employing a sizeable labour force, contributing appreciably to the formation of capital, making large profits and acquiring extensive property. Under feudal conditions, however, this enhanced economic position was not matched by an appropriate political status.