Spring of Nations (1848) | World Revolutions #3

The revolutions of 1848 created nationalism as we know it. In this episode on world-revolutions, we look at the causes and effects of this temultous time in history.

Through YouTube's cowardice, this video has been demonetized, pending review.
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My episode on nationalism:

My episode on the causes of the US Civil War:
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references:
Thomas Bender, A Nation Among Nations: America's Place in World History (New York: Hill and Wang, 2006), 116-181.

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Wiki:
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, People's Spring, Springtime of the Peoples,[3] or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history.
The revolutions were essentially democratic in nature, with the aim of removing the old feudal structures and creating independent national states. The revolutionary wave began in France in February, and immediately spread to most of Europe. Over 50 countries were affected, but with no coordination or cooperation between their respective revolutionaries. According to Evans and von Strandmann (2000), some of the major contributing factors were widespread dissatisfaction with political leadership, demands for more participation in government and democracy, demands for freedom of press, other demands made by the working class, the upsurge of nationalism, and the regrouping of established governmental forces.[4]
The uprisings were led by shaky ad hoc coalitions of reformers, the middle classes and workers, which did not hold together for long. Tens of thousands of people were killed, and many more forced into exile. Significant lasting reforms included the abolition of serfdom in Austria and Hungary, the end of absolute monarchy in Denmark, and the introduction of parliamentary democracy in the Netherlands. The revolutions were most important in France, the Netherlands, the states that would make up the German Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century, Italy, and the Austrian Empire.
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Hashtags: #History #1848 #revolutions #SpringOfNations #WorldRevolution

[ErichZornerzfun]

I wonder if we'll ever have a shift away from the concept of nation-states. These days nation and state are treated almost as synonyms but that really is such a new and atypical idea in our history.

[MrGuns]

Glad you mentioned the Taiping rebellion. One of the largest wars in history yet it is relatively unknown in the west.

[ministroll]

According to Hobsbawn, the lack of nationalism in several revolutions was the reason for the failure of almost all revolutions in 1848. The poor working-class society, led by socialist ideals, divided the revolutionaries. In several countries, including Italy and France. The only country that had its revolution destroyed not for lack of organization was Hungary, which had its revolution crushed by Austrian and mainly Russian military forces.

[dominiceicher]

Switzerland constituted itself as a modern nation state in 1848 and exists to this day. So maybe more successful than the French Revolution of 1848? Cheers from Basel! :)

[j.c.mgomez]

Hey @Cynical Historian, thank you for allowing me to discover Step Back History´s channel, and of course, also thank for all you insightful content too! keep up the marvelous work, cheers from Bogotá!

[Artur_M.]

It's weird, I could have sworn I watched and liked this video already, but the youtube doesn't seem to remember that. Oh well, I definitely watched it and clicked "like" now.

[hideouspants]

In my personal opinion, while the Revolutions of 1848 propelled nationalism to the level it is today, I think the 20th century was more of a Springtime of Nations due to the sheer explosion in the number of new countries that were created during 20th century, in 1914 there were 58 countries, 1999 there were over 197 countries.

[peterbaan]

I have a couple of problems with the Russia invaded Budapest:
- Budapest did not existed at the time, it was created 30 years later.
- Russian intervention started mid-june 1849 and the siege of Buda was in may, 1849.
- The Austrians were conquered Buda in january, we took it back in may, then left it, so the Austrians reconquered it in the summer. (The sources are a bit hazy because of the dire situation and the later retalliation)
- The Russians never fought with the Hungarian army, however we capitulated to them.

[that_person]

Concise and informative, but unfortunately underrated. Thank you for the video!

[marvelfannumber]

I don't know if one could call France's 1848 revolution "successful" considering it transformed France from a conservative Constitutional Monarchy to a psuedo-liberal Presidential dictatorship.

Revolutions have a bad habit of just making things worse or the same.

[imperatorteroton]

Great video, I really appreciate that you mentioned Poland.

[rapn]

"Ireland's independence movement basically began in 1848"

Not true at all. There have been many rebellions throughout Irish history, but if one is to be chosen as the beginning of nationalism, it would have to be the United Irishmen and the 1798 rebellion. While the Young Ireland movement certainly had a cultural impact, Wolfe Tone is generally considered the father of Irish nationalism.

[schizoidboy]

I think one of the most important things I learned about the American Civil War was that America as a whole identified their nation as where they lived. America was their home town not anywhere else in the nation, which would explain why most of the fighting forces in that war were drawn from state raise volunteer regiments rather than from the regular army.

[KitteridgeStudios]

As far as Prussia is concerned, I can say that the biggest contributing facor to the outbreak of revolution was the incredible poverty of the people caused by the industrialisation. The Prussian people wanted reforms, and when the soldiers in Berlin opened fire on the protesters, they got their weapons and fought back. The nationalism and ideas of a unified Germany weren't that big in the Prussian's heads, at least not when the revolution broke out. But this is just some nitpicking, since it would be rather hard to not spend too much time on one country alone in a shorter video without neglecting the other ones :)

[GregHuffman]

any good history books on ths time period and the development of independent nations?

[Jarod-tebi]

Wonder if there’s any good alternate history novels on these revolutions.

[goalgetter]

nice video, only one small correction: there was a successfull revolution in 1848 in the case of Switzerland

[thomaspaine]

3, 000 more subscribers and you reach 10k keep it up :)

[venmis]

How did you get the "Nations are New" thumbnail to show on an almost 5 year old video?

[ThePlaceCannel]

Speaking of Nations and Nationalism, have you read Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson?