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HIST 202: European Civilization, 1648-1945

Lecture 11 - Why no Revolution in 1848 in Britain. Revolutions occur when a critical mass of people come together to make specific demands upon their government. They invariably involve an increase in popular involvement in the political process. One of the central questions concerning 1848, a year in which almost every major European nation faced a revolutionary upsurge, is why England did not have its own revolution despite the existence of social tensions. Two principal reasons account for this fact: first, the success of reformist political measures, and the existence of a non-violent Chartist movement; second, the elaboration of a British self-identity founded upon a notion of respectability. This latter process took place in opposition to Britain's cultural Other, Ireland, and its aftereffects can be seen in Anglo-Irish relations well into the twentieth century.
(from oyc.yale.edu)

Lecture 11 - Why no Revolution in 1848 in Britain

Time Lecture Chapters
[00:00:00] 1. The Nature of Revolution: Politicization of the Common Man
[00:09:53] 2. A Different Kind of Revolution in Germany and Italy: Unification after the Failure of 1848
[00:20:37] 3. The Absence of an 1848 Revolution in Britain: Reform and Chartism
[00:28:20] 4. The Unwanted Other: The Irish as a Potential Source of Insurgency

References
Lecture 11 - Why no Revolution in 1848 in Britain
Instructor: Professor John Merriman. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov].

Go to the Course Home or watch other lectures:

Lecture 01 - Introduction
Lecture 02 - Absolutism and the State
Lecture 03 - Dutch and British Exceptionalism
Lecture 04 - Peter the Great
Lecture 05 - The Enlightenment and the Public Sphere
Lecture 06 - Maximilien Robespierre and the French Revolution
Lecture 07 - Napoleon
Lecture 08 - Industrial Revolutions
Lecture 09 - Middle Classes
Lecture 10 - Popular Protest
Lecture 11 - Why no Revolution in 1848 in Britain
Lecture 12 - Nineteenth-Century Cities
Lecture 13 - Nationalism
Lecture 14 - Radicals
Lecture 15 - Imperialists and Boy Scouts
Lecture 16 - The Coming of the Great War
Lecture 17 - War in the Trenches
Lecture 18 - Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning (Guest Lecture by Jay Winters)
Lecture 19 - The Romanovs and the Russian Revolution
Lecture 20 - Successor States of Eastern Europe
Lecture 21 - Stalinism
Lecture 22 - Fascists
Lecture 23 - Collaboration and Resistance in World War II
Lecture 24 - The Collapse of Communism and Global Challenges