1848

In 1848, a violent storm of revolutions ripped through Europe. The torrent all but swept away the conservative order that had kept peace on the continent since Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815, but which in many countries had also suppressed dreams of national freedom and parliamentary government. The brick-built authoritarian edifice that had imposed itself on Europeans for almost two generations collapsed when set against the weight of the insurrections. With an astounding rapidity, crowds of working class radicals and middle class liberals in Paris, Milan, Venice, Naples, Palermo,…