Christopher Clark | Fighting for a New World – Online

Recorded at Spring Festival 2023

‘People embraced each other, shook hands, joy radiated from every eye, there was no limit to the celebrations…’ 

There can be few more exhilarating or frightening moments in European history than the spring of 1848. Almost as if by magic, in city after city, from Palermo to Paris to Venice, huge crowds gathered, sometimes peaceful and sometimes violent, and the political order that had held sway since the defeat of Napoleon simply collapsed.  

Christopher Clark, Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge, joins us to share his spectacular new book that recreates with verve, wit and insight this extraordinary period. Some rulers gave up at once, others fought bitterly, but everywhere new politicians, beliefs and expectations surged forward. 

Come and hear how the role of women in society, the end of slavery, the right to work, national independence and the final emancipation of the Jews all became live issues.