1848 - Softcover

Rapport, Mike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316729655 ISBN 13: 9780316729659

Publisher: Little Brown & Co, 2008

Synopsis

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, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Munich and Berlin toppled the old regimes and began the task of forging a new order. Political events so dramatic had not been seen in Europe since the French Revolution of 1789 and would not be witnessed again until the revolutions of Eastern and Central Europe in 1989. This vivid and enlightening book traces the roots of the revolutions and then, with breathtaking pace, describes how these explosions of violence spread across Europe, and explains how their effects are still with us today.

About this title

About the Author

Mike Rapport was born in New York, educated in Dorset and the universities of Edinburgh and Bristol. He is currently Lecturer in History at the University of Stirling

From Booklist

In this account of a turbulent year in which most European thrones were shaken or toppled, Rapport smoothly blends drama of battles on the barricades and perspective on the causes and consequences. As ever in revolution, severe economic distress of workers dovetailed with protest by liberals and radicals to ignite a political explosion, initially in Italy but contagiously in France. Rapport’s telling of the February Revolution in Paris, and of ensuing popular revolts in Prussia, the Hapsburg Empire, and the Italian states, periodically pauses for his keen observations about disagreements within the temporarily triumphant revolutionary camps. After the political revolutions, discord between liberals hoping to establish constitutional order and radicals fomenting social revolution gave conservatives and reactionaries openings to mount counterrevolutions. Such are the political labels of the contending forces, but Rapport’s emphasis on leaders installed in the history books about 1848—including Mazzini, Kossuth, Bismarck, and Marx—reminds readers of the force these key individuals exerted on the course of events. Striking an excellent balance between narrative and explanation, Rapport will engage the history audience. --Gilbert Taylor

Edition details

• Publisher: Little Brown & Co
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316729655
• ISBN 13: 9780316729659
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384