1848-A European Revolution?: International Ideas and National Memories of 1848

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The idea of a ‘Springtime of European Peoples’, concepts of a universal republic and the awareness for the European dimension of the revolutionary events had an important impact on the ideas of 1848. They were reflected in songs, pamphlets and political statements. However, the meanings of 1848 - its histories and memories - change over time and according to different political, regional and national contexts. The initial idealism was soon replaced by nationalist aggressiveness. In most commemorations, the revolution appeared as a national event within the national histories of nation-states. This perspective only changed in 1998, on the occasion of its 150 years’ anniversary, when historians, poiiticains and the public rediscovered 1848 as a European revolution, legitimising the rescue of the nation-state. 1848: A European Revolution? analyses the dichotomy between the international dimension within the ideas of the revolution and the nationalisation of memories in its commemorations over the past 150 years.