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In such circumstances the widespread failure of ruling elites to respond to pressures for change resulted in a growing political polarisation. Moreover, the combination of economic, social 32 and political CrISIS caused a deepening loss of confidence amongst normal government supporters, increasing the likelihood of breakdown in a number of political systems[19]. 33 3 'Revolution' as an Event The widespread discontent so clearly evident in Europe at the beginning of 1848 was not in itself suffici ent to cause a revolution.

This, together with the news from Vienna, helped ensure that similar concessions were made in the other German states, as their rulers turned to liberal politicians in the hope that they could contain the revolutionary menace and avoid something worse[89, 123] . The response of governments in Belgium and the Netherlands was similar. An effort was made to reduce discontent by means of the extension of voting rights and programmes of poor relief. In Britain, the Chartists had received the news 40 from Paris with evident enthusiasm.

There was also widespread, if sporadic, disorder. Workers protested about unemployment and low wages[32 , 42, 47]. Peasants complained about taxation and restrictions on access to common land and forests and other features of the growth of capitalistic farming. In Alsace and south-west Germany they denounced Jewish 'usurers', and in other parts of Germany and Austria surviving feudal restrictions. The era of 'freedom' appeared to have dawned. Abstract and universalistic political principles were reinterpreted by various groups in terms of their own immediate interests, and in a fashion which frequently revealed a deep, and hitherto normally concealed, aversion for the social order.