ShmoopTube

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1848 was a great year to be a revolutionary. Sicily, France,

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Austria, heck almost every European country was open for business as pesky [Store turns over closed sign to open]

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students and solid middle-class citizens alike took to the streets in the great

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search for democratic reform the busiest cities for insurrection were Paris

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Vienna and Berlin but it was in France that the revolutionaries managed to [Revolutionaries in France]

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establish universal male suffrage... the guys get to vote what a relief we

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were so concerned sorry ladies we'll still have to take a back seat in this

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whole democracy thing unfortunately the positive momentum toward reform in [French man driving a car with women in the back seat]

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France was sidetracked by a squabble between social classes well to make

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things worse Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew Louis Napoleon Bonaparte who had

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actually been elected the first president of France by a direct popular [People in France voting]

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vote in 1848 couldn't resist overthrowing the Second Republic in 1851

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so that he could be an emperor too just like Uncle bony well as for the results

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in Austria and Germany they went nowhere the Austrian monarchy was simply too [Austrian people gathered together]

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strong in competing interests and identities in Germany made it impossible

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for different factions to unite and push democratic reforms forward over the next

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65 years the soup of democracy continued to simmer in Europe we hope it was clam [Chef appears from a wall]

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chowder people still wanted to partake of that whole liberty and equality thing

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even as the old noble families clung to power and then the pot boiled over [Pot boils over as chef stands by]

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everybody grab a spoon, chowder for all...World War one swept across Europe

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and completely upset the old order scholars still argue about how the Great [Soldiers in battle]

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War got started but the upshot was that the aristocrats were out on their butts

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for good the US came into the war on the side of the Allies that would be Great

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Britain, France, Russia and italy even though it had tried really really hard

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not to get involved in the fighting in the aftermath of the war President [President Wilson standing with arms crossed]

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Woodrow Wilson asked the nations of Europe if they were interested in

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getting a little guidance in democracy 101 and the nations of Europe said

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absolutely can we skip the syllabus day though it's always the most pointless day...[French man asking to skip syllabus day]

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Well every new European state that emerged after World War 1 like Hungary

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Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia to name a few

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had a democratic constitution and Germany, the Soviet Union and Great Britain gave

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women the right to vote as did the U.S. in 1920 with the passage of the 19th [Man voting in an election]

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amendment additionally socialism was on the rise in Europe to the benefit of

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workers everywhere eight hour work days became the norm as did the right to [People working in a factory]

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organize, organize unions not your grandmother's thimble collection but as

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usual all good things came to an end for a variety of reasons Germany Italy and [Hitler standing with another political figure]

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Spain embraced fascism and tiny ridiculous mustaches democracies that

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had been born in the wake of World War one disappeared in the lead-up to World

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War two thank you, Hitler that's why we can't have nice things..while democracy [Soldier walking through a street]

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once again spread its wings after the axis powers got das boot the idea that

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every democracy had to look exactly like America's democracy was dead..People felt

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free to head over the nearest golden corral and pick and choose the [An all you can eat buffet]

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Democratic side dishes that best fits their country because nothing says

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freedom like an all-you-can-eat buffet and chocolate waterfall [Uncle Sam appears at an all you can eat buffet]

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