Economic causes of the 1848 revolts

• Rapid population growth saw Germany's population double in a century, driving down wages
• Grain harvests failed in 1846 & 47 at the same time a fungal blight destroyed the potato crop
• The 'Hungry Forties' caused price inflation so a working-class family spent up to 70% of income on food
• Rapid urbanisation (Berlin's population 172,000 in 1800, 400,000 in 1848) created slum housing & cholera & typhoid epidemics increasing discontent
• Infant mortality under 5 was 50% & adult life expectancy fell to 40 years old
• Working conditions in the emerging factories was also poor; gas lighting meant 15-hour days were common
• Early industrialisation (machines worked by unskilled labour) also threatened traditional artisan's livelihoods breeding fear & resentment
• The 1840s also saw a slump in international trade which reduced demand for manufactured goods & drove up unemployment (25% of people in Cologne received poor relief in 1847)
• In the countryside meanwhile, few peasants owned land, instead suffering low pay or high rents & some were still subject to performing feudal service