Why was there so much unrest in Europe by 1848?
Although there were individual reasons to the causation of each revolution in Europe at 1848, there were several common causes, which relate to all of the 1948 revolutions. The long-term causation of the 1848 revolutions include the gradual increase in industrialization, which in turn resulted to overcrowding in cities, and food shortages. In addition to the population growth because of an increased demand of factory workers, numerous skilled workers lost their job. Triggering off the revolutions in 1848 were the economic and financial crises, after 1845.
Political, long-term factors contributed to unrest in Europe by 1848. Because of the French revolution, feelings of nationalism increased amongst the people. Napoleon got rid of the states and made them into whole countries, increasing unity. However, after the French revolution people were upset because the Congress of Vienna reorganized the map of Europe, putting people into countries that they did not belong to, thus ignoring nationalism. The Congress of Vienna also ignored Liberalism, as they stopped freedom of speech and censored newspapers by passing Metternich’s Karlsbad Decrees. The liberals were unhappy at being ruled by monarchs, and wanted to choose their own government. Overall, there was unrest in Europe because of the Congress of Vienna’s approach to reorganizing Europe and the fact that liberals desired more rights for the people.
