I had to look the year up on wikipedia to learn that our king was compelled by the revolutionary stirrings of 1848 to accept a constitutional parliament. So at least for the Netherlands that revolution had great effect if not immediately for other countries like Italy, France and Germany.

Given that the major consequence of 1848 (besides the rise of nationalism) was in most places a very successful suppression by the forces of conservatism, I sure hope not. And I also think the picture in the end will be much mixed and diverse. Egypt and Tunisia appear to be on their way to more responsive and democratic governments. I am hopeful about Libya, too. I think whether regimes will fall in Yemen and Syria is unclear, and that the old regime is likely to hang on in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Eventually we'll see the region mired in the diplomatic morass of the Sh'leshbiyyah-Hawlshta'in Question. Watch out for Prussians.

It feels to me more like the Berlin Wall coming down, and all of the changes that happened around that. That was such a huge story at the time and I'm kind of surprised it doesn't seem to be similarly enormous in the media this time. I mean it was for a while, but now it seems to be kind of a secondary thing in North American media.

Is that because of the quake/tsunami/nuclear drama in Japan overshadowing it? Short attention span of today's media? Less interest because of where it's happening this time vs. where people's ancestors came from? Or I'm remembering the Berlin Wall as a bigger story than it really was?

I got something like 3% in high school history class, so it's not exactly a subject I'm any good at.

That goes without saying Hugh.