Economic crises and the European revolutions of 1848

Berger, Helge und Spoerer, Mark (2001): Economic crises and the European revolutions of 1848. In: The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 61, No. 2: pp. 293-326

Abstract

Recent historical research tends to view the 1848 revolutions in Europe as caused by a surge of radical ideas and by long-term socioeconomic problems. However, many contemporary observers interpreted much of the upheaval as a consequence of shortterm economic causes, specifically the serious shortfall in food supply that had shaken large parts of the Continent in 1845–1847, and the subsequent industrial slump. Applying standard quantitative methods to a data set of 27 European countries, we show that it was mainly immediate economic misery, and the fear thereof, that triggered the European revolutions of 1848.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Form of publication: Publisher's Version
• Faculties: Economics
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 320 Political science; 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• ISSN: 0022-0507
• Alliance/National Licence: This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
• Language: English