The Revolutions of 1848 were a series of uprisings in France, Germany, and the Austrian Empire, including parts of Italy. Prime causes of the revolutions included liberal demands for constitutional government; increasing nationalism among Germans, Italians, Hungarians, and Czechs; and increasing opposition to the manorial system still in effect in parts of Germany and in the Austrian Empire.  

    The revolution began in France in February 1848 largely as a protest against voting restrictions, political corruption, and poor economic conditions. Soon afterward, the French king, Louis Philippe, abdicated. Liberal politicians then set up a new government which they called the Second Republic. 

    The revolutionary spirit soon spread to the Austrian Empire and Germany. In the Austrian Empire, students and workers rioted in Vienna, elsewhere, Hungarian and Czech nationalists rebelled against Austrian authority. At the same time, patriotic Italians attempted to force their Austrian rulers from northern Italy. In Germany, liberal uprisings swept through the German Confederation, a conglomerate of  39 independent states, the largest of which was Prussia. Workers in large German cities, demanded social reform and soon representatives of various parts of Germany assembled in Frankfurt in an attempt to unify the 39 states into a single nation. 

    However, the Revolutions of 1848 quickly failed. In France, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who had been elected president, declared himself emperor. Protests by French workers were brutally put down. In the Austrian Empire, troops crushed the nationalist uprisings and defeated the Italian rebels. In Germany, monarchies became more firmly established in the major German states, and the assembly at Frankfurt broke up without achieving German unity.  Despite these failures, however, one major goal of the revolution was achieved--the ending of the manorial system. As a result of the revolution, European rulers came to the realization that they must become more sensitive to the demands of nationalists, and began experimenting with more liberal forms of government.