H.J. Hahn assesses the revolutions from a broad, interdisciplinary angle, relating these crucial events in nineteenth century European history to philosophy, literature, politics and socio-economic developments, and makesapparent their significant impact on the shaping of modern Germany.

In 1848 the continent of Europe was rocked by revolutions: only Great Britain and Russia remained relatively immune to the upheaval. Most spectacularly, the Revolutions swept across the German-speaking lands of central Europe, with the newly-released forces of nationalism and mass popular protest smashing the reactionary Metternich regimes which had held sway since the defeat of Napoleon. The Metternich system was dead: nationalism and national self-determination asserted themselves as the dominant dynamic forces of continental Europe in the later nineteenth century. This impressive history...