175 years ago/1848

The Springtime of the Peoples

When we are talking about 1848, it seems we are struggling a bit to decide where its place is in history, and we are a bit rigorous with the events and their consequences. The national cultural memories and historiographies have found a position for it in the national histories. In general, most countries involved may remember 1848 as something what started with great hope and euphoria, but at the end it turned into a failure. The revolutionary momentum deflated, internal conflicts weakened the revolution while the reactionary forces rearranged their ranks and took their revenge. In France the Second Empire came, the cases of the German and Italian unification – temporarily – were delayed, the Habsburgs, with some Russian help, regained the control over their territories.

Even the reasons and the timing of the events generate debates. Seemingly, out of the sudden, a large part of Europe caught fire, and almost every country faced some turmoil. It happened despite, and it is emphasized many times, going from the West to the East the different territories of Europe were on a different level of development. On the Western periphery, the Communist Manifesto was published in London, and the British Government came out stronger from a mild clash with the Chartists, while, on the Eastern periphery, there wasn’t too much chance for any revolutionary actions in the Russian Empire, where one of the goal still was to eliminate the legacy of the feudalism. One end the models of the nation-states, the other end the multinational empires. In Paris the workers were demanding national workshops, in the East one of the goals was to abolish serfdom.

Most probably, we could mention more differences between goals, problems which had to be solved, however, there isn’t enough space here, and my goal rather to recommend three books which I have found recently about the topic. The first one, the book of Mike Rapport, published about ten years ago has a new – at least for me – perspective, by reviewing the events as a European phenomenon. Keeping in mind the differences, he tries to show the similarities between the revolutions. For me, again, very interesting to think over, for example, that the confrontation between the two new ideas, the liberalism and the nationalism became very obvious in 1848 – and, if we think over, this confrontation is a part of our daily life, in the European Union and the debate about her role still shows this confrontation. That’s why I recommend this book to those who either start to get to know the “Springtime of People” of 1848 or who has already some knowledge, but would like to see it from new perspectives. The book really tries to cover the events all over the continent, full of primary sources from both sides of the barricades. You can be in Paris, Vienna, Milan, Venice, Berlin in the critical days, see the events through the eyes of simple revolutionaries, soldiers, military leaders, politicians or diplomats.

The second book was published this year, and the author, Christopher Clark

promise new perspectives in his Introduction. For me one of the most interesting was that he highlighted, for example, that we see 1848 as a failure, because we see it from the viewpoint of the revolutionaries, and it seems, that they lost – at least militarily. However, both side changed, the reaction couldn’t restored properly, and some of the revolutionaries got offices, even important roles in the governments after a while. And, at the end of the day, the events of 1848, and the changes it brought, opened a new era, which lead up to the First World War. I think this book can be a good reading for new or experienced researchers or “explorers” of the topic as well.

The third book, which seems to be delayed, unfortunately, the book of Róbert Hermann, one of the best contemporary Hungarian military historian, and, most probably, the most experienced researcher of the topic, about the Hungarian War of Independence in 1848-1849. During the “Springtime of People”, Hungarians were in a special situation, besides the demands for liberal changes and abolishing the remnants of the feudalism, they demanded – as much – independence – as possible – from the Austrian Empire, and, they had unfortunate arguments with the other nations within the empire. While they had to overcome the frictions between the moderates and radicals as well, the new Hungarian leadership was able to build an army which pushed back the Austrian forces successfully in the Spring of 1849. However, the intervention of the huge Russian army was too much and the Habsburgs could restore their authority. Another question, that the Habsburgs didn’t show too much gratefulness just a few years later during the Crimean War. Back to the book, I think it can be an interesting reading not only for the lovers of military history.

(On September 29, 1848 was fought the Battle of Pákozd which is sometimes compared to the Battle of Valmy, because it strengthened the moral of the Hungarian side.)