The 1848 Revolts in Prussia

• Protests over inflation & food shortages in Berlin escalated to street fighting once Metternich's fall was known
• Frederick William IV responded with an end to press censorship & recalled the United Diet but troops forcibly cleared a large cheering crowd (230 killed) from outside the palace, turning the public mood ugly
• FW4, having ordered his troops from the city, felt vulnerable so wrote 'To my dear Berliners', saluted the dead from his balcony & rode through the streets wearing the nationalist tricolour
• He appointed liberal ministers & announced elections for a Prussian Parliament to draw up a liberal constitution before leaving Berlin for Potsdam where conservatives like his brother William & Bismarck urged the use of force
• Although the constitution was ready in July, FW4 did not implement it
• As cholera & more Berlin rioting saw middle class support for the revolts dwindle, he bloodlessly restored control in Oct. 1848, dismissed liberal ministers & closed the liberal Parliament
• He then asserted his divine right by imposing his own moderately liberal constitution on Prussia; it guaranteed freedom of religion & assembly, an independent judiciary & a two house elected parliament, although the three-class system was unfairly weighted in favour of conservatives & the King alone appointed ministers, retained control of the army, could alter the constitution & suspend civil rights in an emergency
• The revolts had failed but Prussia finally had a constitution