Revolutions of 1848 Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, People's Spring, Springtime of the Peoples, or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history. The revolutions were essentially democratic and liberal in nature, with the aim of removing the old monarchical structures and creating independent nation states. The revolutions spread across Europe after an initial revolution began in France in February. Over 50 countries were affected, but with no significant coordination or cooperation among their respective revolutionaries.
Lists of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year to breaking news stories and world events in 2003. The top word "democracy" correlated to the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, "quarantine" to a SARS epidemic, and "matrix" to the film "The Matrix Revolutions". In 2004, blogs were becoming highly popular and began to influence mainstream media. During the twelve-month period that decides the word of the year, the term "blog" had the most requests for a definition or explanation, so a new entry was placed in Merriam-Webster's printed dictionary for 2005. The other words on this list, such as "incumbent", "electoral", and "partisan", were