The poor governance and the negligence of the European monarchs towards the people, a wide range of liberalism that suddenly prevailed in Europe and a large sense of nationalism created by foreign rule and thus hope of unification by certain countries.
Most of the revolutions of 1848 generally failed due to the conflicting philosophies of the revolutionaries and thus conservatives regained power.
These revolutions represent the end of the age of Metternich.
Britain and Russia were not caught up in these revolutions even though they swept over the continent while the Netherlands barely escaped due to the monarch at the time King Willem II.