It was a brisk spring breeze that swept through the raging flames of revolution which set ablaze the green pastures of France in 1789. And it was that same spring wind that blew again when the people of Europe arose in 1848. The twin revolutions; born in the same bloom of spring yet under the sky of different centuries, were of a distinct yet very similar kind. The Springtime of the Peoples, as it later came to be known, though less discussed than its exclusively French twin -predominantly due the former being considered as a failed revolution- was even so of immense importance. The Revolutions of 1848 were no less a success than 1789 was, both in a thoroughly tangible and in an intricately ideological way. Though certainly more subtle, the effects which the springtime of the mid 19th century brought about for Europe and the world should by no means be thought of as negligible.
This essay will trace the evolution of the effects that the uprisings of 1848-1849 produced, primarily for Europe, and through it, for the whole world. The repercussions of the Revolutions affected the future decades of European politics and European political culture in two ways; firstly in an administrative and secondly in an ideological, or rather a cultural-political way. Both provided the ideological basis for political extremism, populism and authoritarianism as well as the technical basis for the rise of powerful party politics to the forefront of state governance.
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