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Content: A series of bad harvests
culminating in the potato blight of 1845-46 brought widespread misery and some
starvation. An economic depression added to the hardship, spreading discontent
among the poor and the middle class alike. A popular uprising in Paris in
February 1848 turned into a revolution, forcing the French king Louis Philippe
to flee to Britain. The success of the revolution sparked revolts elsewhere in Europe. Numerous
German cities were shaken by uprisings in which crowds consisting mainly of the
urban poor, but also of students and members of the liberal middle class,
stormed their rulers' palaces and demanded fundamental reform. Berlin and Vienna
were especially hard hit by what came to be called the revolutions of 1848. The
rulers of both cities, like rulers elsewhere, quickly acceded to the demands of
their rebellious subjects and promised constitutions and representative
government. Conservative governments fell, and Metternich fled to Britain. Liberals called for a national convention to draft a constitution for all of
Germany. The National Assembly, consisting of about 800 delegates from
throughout Germany, met in a church in Frankfurt, the Paulskirche, from May 1848
to March 1849 for this purpose.