Preface to the second edition

Summary

The one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the revolution of 1848, that produced a small flood of exhibitions, conferences, lecture series, commemorations, and scholarly publications in the years around 1998, also provided the impetus for a second edition of this work. As part of the relevant revisions, the bibliography has been completely rewritten and brought up to date with the latest literature, much of it appearing in conjunction with the revolutionary sesquicentennial. The account of the 1848 revolutions has been modified as well, to take into consideration the latest scholarly findings. As a result of them, the discussion of the 1848 revolution has been expanded, both topically and geographically, including new material on events in the Low Countries, Scandinavia, and the very interesting developments in the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. I have added new examples for some of the assertions in the book, introduced new themes, particularly a section on the memory and commemoration of the 1848 revolutions. A number of smaller mistakes present in the first edition have been corrected.

More generally, though, most of these newer scholarly investigations have offered further evidence to support the general approach to and interpretation of the mid-nineteenth-century revolutions put forth in this book. Indeed, the first edition of The European Revolutions, 1848–1851 found frequent and favorable mention in bibliographies and commemorative essays, to say nothing of Internet web sites, appearing in conjunction with the revolutionary anniversary.