5 - Polarization and confrontation

Summary

Patterns of confrontation, May–November 1848

The second half of 1848 was a period of the resurgence of the party of order and of the decline of the party of movement in Europe. In a series of dramatic confrontations the revolutionary forces were overwhelmed, sometimes by an alliance of conservatives and liberals, sometimes by a resurgence of elements of the pre-1848 regimes. Following these confrontations, governments were reshuffled and public policy took a strong turn to the right. If the revolutionary movement had suffered a severe setback by the end of 1848, counter-revolution had not yet completely triumphed. Constitutional monarchists retained some influence on government policy; basic civil liberties and the constitutional form of government, those major accomplishments of the spring of 1848, remained, precariously, in place. While increasingly harassed by the police, radical and democratic forces were still able to reorganize themselves and seek out new supporters, preparing a new round of political struggles in the first half of 1849.

First steps in southern Italy

The 1848 revolutions began in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies; the reaction against them also took its first major step there. As always in Italy during the mid-century revolution, the war against the Austrians in the north set the background for political action. Radicals in the capital city of Naples and more militant members of the kingdom's parliament meeting there demanded that its armed forces be sent north to join the nationalist war, and that the constitution granted by the king at the outbreak of the revolution be modified to increase parliamentary control over foreign affairs.