Revolutions of 1848 · 1848-1849

1848: the springtime of peoples

In 1848 revolution spreads from Palermo and Paris to Vienna, Berlin, Milan and Budapest. Kings flee, parliaments meet, serfs are freed, and within two years most of the old rulers are back. Students map a year of revolutions and ask what changed.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1848
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In 1848 revolution spreads from Palermo and Paris to Vienna, Berlin, Milan and Budapest. Kings flee, parliaments meet, serfs are freed, and within two years most of the old rulers are back. Students map a year of revolutions and ask what changed.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Map the spread of the revolutions of 1848 across Europe.
  • Explain what liberals, nationalists and workers wanted in 1848.
  • Judge why most revolutions failed and what still changed.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1848

Europe before the storm

Open the map in 1848 and zoom out over Europe. The borders still look like 1815. Find Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Milan and Budapest. Which of them were capitals of their own state?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1848

The German states

Zoom in on the German lands and count the states you can see. Find Frankfurt. Why would a parliament for all Germans meet in a city that was not a royal capital?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1848

An empire of many peoples

Zoom in on the Austrian Empire. Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, Italians, Croats and others lived in it. Why would nationalism be dangerous for this empire?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Bad harvests and hunger in 1845-1847 came just before the revolutions. How can hunger lead to revolution?
  2. Liberals wanted constitutions, nationalists wanted their own nations, workers wanted jobs and bread. Why could these groups not stay united?
  3. The Frankfurt Parliament offered the German crown to the king of Prussia, and he refused it. Why would a king refuse a crown?
  4. Austria ended serfdom in 1848, and France ended slavery in its colonies. Was 1848 really a failure?
  5. In 1848 news spread from city to city by newspaper, letter and train. How do revolutions spread today?
4

Game round

10 min

Play Rule History as Napoleon Bonaparte. In December 1848 French voters elected his nephew, Louis-Napoleon, as president, and in 1852 he made himself emperor. Discuss: why did a famous name win so many votes in a new democracy?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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