1848: Year of Revolution

19 Jan, 2012 900 History

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss 1848, the year that saw Europe engulfed in revolution. Across the continent, from Paris to Palermo, liberals rose against conservative governments. The first stirrings of rebellion came in January, in Sicily; in February the French monarchy fell; and within a few months Germany, Austria, Hungary and Italy had all been overtaken by revolutionary fervour. Only a few countries, notably Britain and Russia, were spared.The rebels were fighting for nationalism, social justice and civil rights, and were prepared to fight in the streets down to the last man. Tens of thousands of people lost their lives; but little of lasting value was achieved, and by the end of the year the liberal revolutions had been soundly beaten.

Listen on BBC Sounds website

Guests

  • Tim Blanning 9 episodes
    Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Cambridge
  • Lucy Riall 2 episodes
    Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London
  • Mike Rapport No other episodes
    Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Stirling

Related episodes

Experimental. For more related episodes, visit the visual explorer.

Programme ID: b019gy9p

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019gy9p

Auto-category: 900 (History & Geography)

Hello (First sentence from this episode) Hello, on February the 26th 1848, page 5 of the Times contained dramatic news from the continent.