Spain's 1848 : a European exception?

Abstract

Spanish and international scholars have traditionally interpreted the consequences of the 1848 revolutionary cycle in Spain in terms of failure and exception with respect to the rest of the European continent. However, by adopting a transnational and comparative perspective, it is possible to generate a novel interpretation of Spain's 48 and better situate the differences between the social and political dynamics that took place on the Peninsula and the rest of the continent during the so-called year of revolution. The main goal of this paper is to propose this new approach to the study of 1848 in Spain.