What Led to The Various Revolutions in Europe in 1848?
Introduction
The revolutionary events that took place in Europe in 1845–47 were not isolated but rather a part of a larger range of economic challenges which occurred over a fifteen-year period. The events started from the early 1840s and lasted up to the following decade (Sperber 109). This paper addresses the factors that led to the revolutions in Europe in the year1848.
Economic Crisis
One of the factors that led to the revolutions in Europe in 1848 was an economic crisis. The experience of very poor harvests, financial panic, trade downturn or recession brought a significant economic insufficiency to the existing financial institutions. This led to the economic crisis in the years1845–1847 which later became a precondition and precursor for the Revolution of 1848 (Sperber 109-111).
Outbreak and Spread of the Potato Blight
In the year 1845, there was widespread crop disaster. There was an outbreak and spread of potato blight. This caused great annihilation to most of the crops that were then depended on as the main food in northern Europe by the poor.
The whole continent got filled with bread and potato riots as large crowds moved on to mob the speculators and block any foodstuffs from leaving their vicinities. They also forced their sales at prices really below the standard market levels In February 1847. Two thousand peasants gathered in Varese town, in Astrian, northern Italy, and broke the Swiss merchants’ wagons which had brought up grain. Crowds in Berlin also launched the attack at the market stalls of potato dealers two months later; an event later referred to as the “potato uprising” (Sperber 110-111).
Unemployment
The revolution was caused by the high levels of unemployment. Unemployment was so substantial in manufacturing regions, large cities, and manufacturing parts as most of the industries stopped operating due to the potato uprising. Columns of workers and crowds of the unemployed in public relief projects were a characteristic sight in the revolution in 1848, playing a key role in the outbreak of the revolution and its further development.
The economic crisis resulted in starvation, unemployment and heavy debts. The people had not been aware of the future decade prospects of possible economic expansion (Sperber 112-113).The Credit CrisisPart of the factors that led to the revolution steps of 1847–1848 was the credit crunch. The high grain prices got accompanied by very massive borrowing, as the income got outstripped by the food costs and the debt that stemmed from the many years of poor harvest. This remained a major problem for the middle and lower classes throughout the revolutions. The wretched or bad harvests of 1845 and 1846 were a key indirect cause of the revolution. They were the two decades of declining public purchasing power’s culmination. They were also of the core factors in the slump of 1847–1848, whose unemployment, debt, and sluggish business conditions went a long way to marking the popular discontent …
