Title: The European Revolutions of 1848 : history
Headings: The European Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848
European History in 1848
Some historical background to the Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848 begin
The Springtime of Peoples
Other Popular European History pages
at Age-of-the-Sage

Content: Many young persons  from middle class backgrounds finished their years of education or training and emerged into an economic situation that was unwelcoming to their skills. Levels of payment for both urban and rural workers tended to fall leaving many persons in a situation where they could hope to survive,  health permitting and quite possibly in over-crowded and unsanitary conditions, but found it almost impossible to actually prosper. Moreover, there was then no such thing as any system of social security in place to cater to the needs of those unlucky  enough to fall on hard times through unemployment, illness or injury - or their dependants. The European Revolutions of 1848 begin
The Springtime of Peoples
The revolutions of 1848-1849, (sometimes referred to in the German lands as the Völkerfrühling or the Springtime of Peoples), can perhaps be seen  as a particularly active phase in the challenge populist claims to political power had intermittently been  making against the authority traditionally exercised by the dynastic governments of Europe. As with several instances of revolution in Europe previously that  of 1848 was to have its major point of origin in France. Poor grain harvests, the appearance of blight - an extremely serious disease - in potato crops, and generally depressed economic conditions across much of Europe in 1845-6 led to sharply rising food prices, unemployment, and a radicalisation of political attitudes. Dramatic increases in the prices of food and fuel contributed to a situation where there were serious outbreaks of hunger-related Typhus fever,  causing many fatalities. Trade was disrupted as there was less general spending as food came first where the poorest classes of people  struggled to keep themselves fed and everyone found the necessities of life to be much more expensive. The levels of  unemployment rose significantly. Such general economic dislocation brought with it increases in crime as persons broke the laws in their efforts  to get food, fuel or cash.