Started in France in February 1848. The French had been increasingly discontented over King Louis-Philippe's government. Political assembly was illegal, so they organized banquets with singing and speeches. The government banned a banquet in February, sparking street protests. When an old woman was killed by municipal guards, Parisians took to the barricades (building thousands of them by nightfall). Within 2 days, Louis-Philippe had to abdicate the throne and flee to England. Dozens of outbreaks spread across Europe, all demanding the same things: "a constitution, civil liberties, voting rights, meaningful legislative assemblies." Serf uprisings occurred in central and eastern Europe. Land occupations sprung up in the countrysides. The people of Europe had been hungry. 1846 was the worst grain crop in three decades. Food prices shot up, leading to financial instability and mass unemployment. Workers were subjected to unpredictable business cycles and decades of falling wages. It was the most significant and far-reaching European revolution. Here are some of the outcomes: - In England, an April 1848 march planned by the Chartist movement [[Chartism]] - Assemblies across the Austrian Empire declaring the end of serfdom. - Slovaks, Czechs, Croats, Serbs and Romanians demanding their own nation states. - Pope Pius IX fled Rome. - Bavaria's king Ludwig abdicated after crowds stormed his residence. - Prince Bibescu fled Bucharest for Transylvania. - Prince Metternich, the chancellor of the Austrian Empire and the most powerful symbol of the old order, resigned just minutes before a deadline that revolutionaries gave to him. In Russia, Tsar Nicholas cracked down on ideas. He shut down universities, put publishers under surveillance. Russian mythology has it that it saved Europe from Mongol hordes through the autocratic leadership of its princes. Tsar Nicholas was channeling this mythology. --- Source: [[The Sinner and the Saint 2]]