German revolutions of 1848–49 used on today's national flag of Germany as a symbol of the Republican movement and of the unity among the German-speaking people. Activism for liberal reforms spread through many of the German states, each of which had distinct revolutions. They were also inspired by the street demonstrations of workers and artisans led in Paris, France, from February 22 through 24, 1848, which resulted in the abdication by King Louis-Philippe of France and his exile in Britain. In France the revolution of 1848 became known as the February Revolution. The revolutions spread from France across Europe; they erupted soon thereafter in
Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire Piedmont-Savoy, initiated a nationalist war on March 23 in the Austrian held northern Italian provinces that would consume the attention of the entire peninsula. The German nationalist movement faced the question of whether or not Austria should be included in the united German state, a quandary that divided the Frankfurt National Assembly. The liberal ministers in Vienna were willing to allow elections for the German National Assembly in some of the Habsburg lands, but it was undetermined which Habsburg territories would participate. Hungary and Galicia were clearly not German; German nationalists (who dominated the Bohemian Diet) felt the old crown