From "1848, A year of Revolutions" by William S. Chase (1)
Preface
The year 1848 was remarkably eventful.
To this country, it brought the termination of our work of conquest in Mexico, a change of administration which elevated General Taylor to the Presidency and the Whig party to power, and, finally, the discovery of the Gold Regions in California, a discovery realizing dreams of the fabled Dorado of the past, and pregnant with mighty consequences for the future.
In Europe, 1848 was emphatically a year of Revolutions. "The social and political convulsions which marked its course, the tottering of thrones and dynasties, the irruption of armed democracy into the council-chambers of Kings, the uprising of oppressed and dormant nationalities, and the consequent ruin of the cumbrous fabrics raised over them by diplomacy are incidents of that eventful year, which have been watched by contemporary spectators with the lively emotions due to such dramatic spectacles, and to which inquiry will turn, for many a generation to come, as to the starting points of current history"(2)
[..]
The French and the Italian Revolutions(3) properly claim the largest space in this work. Although many of those events were so sudden and unexpected as to seem premature, like the deposition of King Louis Philippe in February(4) or the sudden and completely unexpectedrebirth of the Republic of Venice, the explosive forces resulting in them had long been accumulating. Future historians will certainly debate at length how it happened that long-serving politicians like Prince Metternich in Vienna or Francois Guizot in Paris were so blind to miss the mounting signs of danger which had been straining the fabric of European society for almost a decade, and even at the very last moment remained arrogant and complacent, firmly convinced that nothing could challenge their position.
[..]
The already daunting task of describing the events of that fateful year is made even more difficult by the close connection and consequences that events in one corner of the continent had in the others, even in the not obvious ones. If, for instance, it was somehow natural and expected that the revolution in France might touch off an insurrection in Vienna on March 15th and the subsequent resignation of Europe's most feared oppressor Metternich would resonate in Pest, Prague, Milan and Venice, who could imagine that the events in the former Duchies of Parma and Modena would have had such severe consequences in Paris (5) or that Berlin, of all the cities in Europe, would have been the theatre of the most unexpected and at the same time most bloody insurrection, which frightened the king of Prussia into the promise of a Constitution before prudently leaving the city for the safety of his palace of Sans Souci at Potsdam (6)?
[..]
If it is true that London and Paris were sympathetic to the Italian cause, it is perhaps truer the sudden and shining awakening of the Italian power in the middle of the Mediterranean was certainly a concern, for it brought with itself fear for the new and unknown. This, coupled with the unexpected rise of the new generation of rulers of the House of Savoy, explains the ambiguous moves regarding the Sicilian throne. For while the British ambassador unofficially endorsed the accession of the fabled Maria Cristina of Savoy in Palermo, in London was printed -and hurriedly shipped to Sicily- a manifesto suggesting to offer the crown to Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, magnifying his qualities and riches (7); while France, per Lamartine's own words, would "not attack her unoffending neighbors, nor exercise an underhand nor incendiary propaganda among them"(8), the rise of a member of the House d'Orleans, covered in military glory, even as a mere Prince Consort was enough to try and covertly break this policy, by prompting to said throne either a nine-year-old Tuscan prince or the very man who had chosen a Queen in the first place (9).
[..]
The events of Germany cannot but raise mixed feelings in any man that loves liberty. (10)
[..]
Whatever may be the convulsions of 1848, and of the subsequent events of 1849, their tendency and their ultimate results cannot fail to be good.
Footnotes
Preface
The year 1848 was remarkably eventful.
To this country, it brought the termination of our work of conquest in Mexico, a change of administration which elevated General Taylor to the Presidency and the Whig party to power, and, finally, the discovery of the Gold Regions in California, a discovery realizing dreams of the fabled Dorado of the past, and pregnant with mighty consequences for the future.
In Europe, 1848 was emphatically a year of Revolutions. "The social and political convulsions which marked its course, the tottering of thrones and dynasties, the irruption of armed democracy into the council-chambers of Kings, the uprising of oppressed and dormant nationalities, and the consequent ruin of the cumbrous fabrics raised over them by diplomacy are incidents of that eventful year, which have been watched by contemporary spectators with the lively emotions due to such dramatic spectacles, and to which inquiry will turn, for many a generation to come, as to the starting points of current history"(2)
[..]
The French and the Italian Revolutions(3) properly claim the largest space in this work. Although many of those events were so sudden and unexpected as to seem premature, like the deposition of King Louis Philippe in February(4) or the sudden and completely unexpectedrebirth of the Republic of Venice, the explosive forces resulting in them had long been accumulating. Future historians will certainly debate at length how it happened that long-serving politicians like Prince Metternich in Vienna or Francois Guizot in Paris were so blind to miss the mounting signs of danger which had been straining the fabric of European society for almost a decade, and even at the very last moment remained arrogant and complacent, firmly convinced that nothing could challenge their position.
[..]
The already daunting task of describing the events of that fateful year is made even more difficult by the close connection and consequences that events in one corner of the continent had in the others, even in the not obvious ones. If, for instance, it was somehow natural and expected that the revolution in France might touch off an insurrection in Vienna on March 15th and the subsequent resignation of Europe's most feared oppressor Metternich would resonate in Pest, Prague, Milan and Venice, who could imagine that the events in the former Duchies of Parma and Modena would have had such severe consequences in Paris (5) or that Berlin, of all the cities in Europe, would have been the theatre of the most unexpected and at the same time most bloody insurrection, which frightened the king of Prussia into the promise of a Constitution before prudently leaving the city for the safety of his palace of Sans Souci at Potsdam (6)?
[..]
If it is true that London and Paris were sympathetic to the Italian cause, it is perhaps truer the sudden and shining awakening of the Italian power in the middle of the Mediterranean was certainly a concern, for it brought with itself fear for the new and unknown. This, coupled with the unexpected rise of the new generation of rulers of the House of Savoy, explains the ambiguous moves regarding the Sicilian throne. For while the British ambassador unofficially endorsed the accession of the fabled Maria Cristina of Savoy in Palermo, in London was printed -and hurriedly shipped to Sicily- a manifesto suggesting to offer the crown to Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, magnifying his qualities and riches (7); while France, per Lamartine's own words, would "not attack her unoffending neighbors, nor exercise an underhand nor incendiary propaganda among them"(8), the rise of a member of the House d'Orleans, covered in military glory, even as a mere Prince Consort was enough to try and covertly break this policy, by prompting to said throne either a nine-year-old Tuscan prince or the very man who had chosen a Queen in the first place (9).
[..]
The events of Germany cannot but raise mixed feelings in any man that loves liberty. (10)
[..]
Whatever may be the convulsions of 1848, and of the subsequent events of 1849, their tendency and their ultimate results cannot fail to be good.
Footnotes
- An actual OTL book published in 1850; we are presenting here excerpts from its TTL version
- This is the OTL beginning of the preface
- "the French Revolution" IOTL
- Events in France, as well as the rest of Europe until Goito, follow the same path as OTL
- A shameless teaser
- Berliners, upon receiving the news of the insurrection of Vienna and the dismissal of Metternich, submitted a petition to the king asking for the suppression of censorship and the convening of the United Estates of Prussia. The petition was rejected, and what had started as a peaceful demonstration quickly turned into a riot and then in outright insurrection. Close to 1,000 Berliners died in the fight, then the king called back the soldiers, and promised a Constitution before leaving for Sans Souci. Once he was there, though, he started to change again his mind. It is said that the council was hotly debating what to do, when suddenly a young Junker from East Prussia sat at a piano, and started playing the Attack March of the Prussian infantry: his name was Otto von Bismarck.
- This is OTL, as strange as it may seem. The unofficial position of the British Government was that there were no formal objection to a Savoy on the throne, but official recognition would come only after the stability of the new kingdom would be proven.
- Words taken from Lamartine's circular of March 4th IOTL
- IOTL the French, thinking that a Savoy on the throne of Sicily would have made Sardinia too strong, made some unofficial moves to prop either Carlo Salvatore von Hapsburg-Lorraine or even Ruggero Settimo on the throne; IOTL, given Henri's marriage to Maria Cristina, they try harder, but Ruggero Settimo's bold move to bring the crisis to a conclusion with a vote in parliament does not allow the French interests time to act.
- Yet another shameless teaser: for the time being, there is unrest in the Rhinelands, the Grand Duchies of Baden, Oldenburg and Hesse and the kingdoms of Bavaria, Saxony and Hanover. The Grand Duke of Baden and the king of Bavaria abdicate as IOTL, and constitutional regimes are slowly being put in place. The events reported from the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg may be seen as typical: when the Grand Duke received a petition with thousands of signatures asking for the abolition of censorship and a constitution, he tried to procrastinate making a decision, arguing that such a major decision could not be taken without giving due consideration to all sides of the debate, and could not be rushed. His Prime Minister replied remembering to the Grand Duke that that had been his own advice, in 1830!
Made in Tarabas & @LordKalvan