Important indeed was that year of 1848, noteworthy above most in the
story of mankind. In Europe it witnessed the greatest of all the
outbursts of democracy. The common people, easily suppressed by the
armies of the Holy Alliance in 1820, had been subdued with difficulty in
1830. Now in 1848 they rose again. Their gradual accumulation of power
and passion would soon be irresistible. Even the petted armies of
autocracy became possessed with the new belief in mankind's brotherhood.
This time the outburst began in Italy. Mazzini, the celebrated founder
of the political society "Young Italy," inspired his countrymen with
something of his own ardent devotion to the cause of liberty and Italian
union. Then in 1846 Pius IX, last of the heads of the Roman Church to
possess a temporal authority as well, ascended the throne of the Papal
dominions. The new Pope was in sympathy with the democratic spirit of
the times, and he established in his own States a constitutional
government, granting to his people more and more of power as he judged
them fitted for it. Soon, however, the most radical elements asserted
themselves in the new Government. All that the Pope could find it in his
heart to grant, seemed to them not half enough. The mighty spirit which
he had let loose broke from his control. Before the close of 1848 there
were riots, fighting in the streets; the Pope's chief counsellor was
murdered, and he himself had to flee by night in secrecy, a fugitive
from Rome. [Footnote: See _The Reforms of Pius IX: His Flight from
Rome_.]
Ere matters had reached this pass, the sudden impulse given by Rome to
democratic government had spread like wildfire over the whole of Europe.
Thrones everywhere seemed crumbling to the dust. In January, 1848, the
people of Sicily revolted against their tyrant king and formed a
republic. Southern Italy, which had been part of the same kingdom,
compelled the sovereign to grant a constitution. Other Italian States
followed the example of rebellion. All Europe apparently had been but
waiting for the spark. In France, dissatisfaction with the
"tradesman-King," Louis Philippe, had long been bitter. In February,
1848, there was an open rebellion, Louis abdicated, and a provisional
government was formed, which proclaimed the land a republic. [Footnote:
See _The Revolution of February in France_.]
There was no fear now lest the other Powers interfere. Each Continental
monarch was over-busy at home. Rebellion was everywhere. Every one of
the lesser German States secured a constitution; and the inhabitants
summoned those of Prussia and Austria to join them in establishing a
single central government, either republic or empire, a "United
Germany." On March 18th the Prussian capital, Berlin, was the seat of a
savage street battle between citizens and the royal troops. Not until it
had raged all day and upward of two hundred persons had been slain did
the Prussian monarch, Frederick William IV, weaken and proclaim a
constitution. [Footnote: See _Revolutionary Movements in Germany_.]
Austria, the stronghold of autocracy, the land of Prince Metternich,
high-priest of repression, had proven as little ready as her neighbors
to withstand the sudden storm. On March 13th the people of Vienna rose
in most unexpected revolt, and Metternich, escaping from the city in a
washerwoman's cart, fled to England. "We were prepared for everything,"
he lamented, "but a democratic pope."
The whole heterogeneous empire of Austria seemed to fall apart at once.
The Hungarians rose in arms to fight for independence. The Bohemians
expelled the Austrian troops from Prague. In Italy the Northern
Provinces followed the example set them in the South. The people of
Milan attacked the Austrian garrison and expelled it after four days of
fighting. Venice reasserted her ancient independence. The King of
Piedmont and Sardinia, declaring himself the champion of Italian unity,
ordered the Austrian armies to leave the country, and marched his forces
against them. The other little States hastened to accept his leadership
and add their troops to his.
Yet against all these difficulties the military power of the Austrian
Government began to make determined headway. The Bohemians were crushed
by force of arms. In Italy the Austrian general-in-chief withdrew slowly
before his many foes, until his Government could reënforce him. Then he
turned on them, completely defeated the Sardinian King at Custozza and
the next year at Novara, and therby restored Austrian supremacy in
Northern Italy.
Meanwhile Rome, from which Pius IX had fled in horror, proclaimed itself
a republic. Mazzini, the earliest hero of Italian unity, and Garibaldi,
its greatest champion, were both members of the Government. The
Austrians marched against them; but French troops had also been
despatched to defend the Pope, and it was the French who, first reaching
Rome, stormed and captured it. The republic was overthrown by a
republic. [Footnote: See _Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic_.] Venice
was the last Italian city to hold out, and surrendered to the Austrians
only after a siege of many months had reduced it to starvation.
The Austrian revolution had also collapsed at home. In October, 1848,
Government troops stormed the city of Vienna as if it had been a foreign
capital, and defeated the students and citizens, who fought the soldiers
from street to street.
Only in Hungary were the royal armies baffled. There a regular
republican government was established under Louis Kossuth. Hungarian
armies were raised, and, defeating the Austrians in pitched battles,
drove them from the land. The Austrian Emperor in despair appealed to
Russia for aid; and the Czar having just trampled out an incipient
Polish rebellion of his own, came willingly to the aid of his brother
autocrat. Just as Austrian troops had so often done in Italy, so now a
huge Russian horde poured over Hungary, beat down all resistance, and
having reduced the land to helplessness returned it to the angry grip of
its insulted sovereign. [Footnote: See _The Revolt of Hungary_.]
Yet Hungary did not wholly fail of her revenge. She had brought about
the downfall of Austria as a great political Power. The once haughty
empire had been compelled to cry for help, to be protected, even as were
Italy and Spain, against her own people. Her weakness was made manifest
to the world. Never again could she pose as the leader of European
councils.
Thus it was only in France and Germany that the results of the upheaval
of 1848-1849 remained evident upon the surface. Prussia and the lesser
German States became and continued constitutional kingdoms. Germany was
united in a closer though still vague union, in which Austria and
Prussia struggled for a dominant influence. But democracy had in many
places committed such excesses that the huge body of the middle classes
feared it and turned against it. Such citizens as had property to
preserve concluded that, after all, their ancient kings had been less
tyrannic than King Mob.
In France, too, this reaction was strongly felt. The revolution of 1848
had not been accomplished without an outburst from socialism or
communism, which raised its red flag in the streets of Paris and was put
down only after days of bloody battle with the more moderate elements.
So the French middle classes wanted peace, and they elected as president
of the republic Louis Napoleon, nephew of their once famous Emperor. In
1851 the President by a sudden _coup d'etat_ overturned his own
Government. He declared the land an empire under himself as Napoleon
III. Enthusiastic patriots protested in burning words, but most of
France appeared content. Property-owners welcomed the return of any
government that was strong enough to govern. [Footnote: See _The Coup
d'Etat_.]
Despite temporary setbacks, however, the advance of the power of the
people in 1848 had been enormous. The dullest tyrant could hardly
believe longer in the permanence of personal despotism. Even England,
the stronghold of conservatism as well as of personal independence, was
shifting her aristocratic institutions slowly toward democracy.
The Reform Bill of 1832 had been only a small step in the direction of
popular government; but it opened the way for further reform. Almost
immediately upon its granting, began what was known as the Chartist
movement, an agitation kept up among the lower classes for a "charter"
or more liberal constitution. This soon became associated with a demand
for freer trade. The importation into England of bread-stuffs,
especially corn, was heavily taxed, and thus the poorer classes were
driven almost to the point of famine. The failure of the potato crop did
at last produce actual and awful famine in Ireland. Her peasants still
speak of 1847 as "the black year" of death. [Footnote: See _Famine in
Ireland_.]
Hundreds of thousands of the poorer classes starved. Then began a stream
of emigration to America. Under pressure of such facts as these, the
English "Corn Laws" were repealed, and gradually Great Britain assumed
more and more positively the attitude of "free trade." [Footnote: See
_Repeal of the English Corn Laws_.]