Revolution and Counterrevolution on the Russian-Ottoman Border : Wallachia in 1848

The Wallachian revolution of 1848 was exactly the kind of event that European statesmen feared in the decades after the Congress of Vienna of 1815.Unlike most of the mid-century revolutions, which began as spontaneous manifestations of popular grievances, the Wallachian one was planned by a small coterie of young men who saw an opportunity to effect change in the wake of what was known as the ‘Springtime of Peoples’.Instead of street fighting and violence, their movement began peacefully with the reading of a revolutionary proclamation in a small village called Islaz near the confluence of the Olt River and the Danube on 21 June.From there it spread to Bucharest, where gathered crowds led the reigning Prince Bibescu, perhaps spooked by an earlier attempt on his life, to accept the revolutionary programme without modification and then swiftly abdicate and flee the principality, leaving the revolution’s leaders to take power and begin their three-month experiment in government.Few of the